Mandragora

1997 "He was 15 – an innocent from a small village, soon to be trapped in the erotic underworld of Prague."
6.6| 2h6m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 22 October 1997 Released
Producted By:
Country: Czech Republic
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Marek is a 15-year-old from a provincial village who runs away to Prague when he begins to fail at school. He is mugged shortly after arriving in the city and is rescued by Honza with the promise of work. Marek is taken to an apartment, drugged, and becomes a male prostitute. He is a bit smarter than his colleagues and teams up with a friend, David, in order to go after bigger scores – to cash in and get out. They manage to stash away a bit of money, but when it comes time to return home, Marek loses his nerve and is soon back in the city.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Wiktor Grodecki

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Mandragora Audience Reviews

Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
dworldeater Mandragora is a very rough, uncompromising film dealing with runaway teen boys from Prauge that end up selling their bodies to immoral, creepy old men that frequently abuse them. This is presented in a brutally honest and realistic fashion. Mandragora is taken from the point of view of our main character Marek. Marek is a lost wayward boy that runs away from home that was very vulnerable and easy prey for the various unsavory characters that hang out at the train station. He ends up working the streets and is exploited and poorly treated from the very beginning. Marek ends up befreinding the slighty more street smart David and together get in a lot of trouble. Things progress from bad to worst as the film goes on. Marek is a sympathetic character and the consciousness of the film. While he may be incredibly naive, he truly is not an inherently bad person. While his decisions are horrendous at best, he is victimized and brutalized by the human compost that occupies the nefarious underworld of Prauge. Marek is on a downward spiral path of self destruction and this film pulls no punches in its presentation. Mandragora is an extremely depressing film, but is very well done in capturing what these lost souls must endure. This may be the bleakest, most depressing film I have ever seen. While this absolutely is a strong film, it is not one I wish to rewatch and I am no lightweight. This may be the most bleak and hopeless film I have ever watched. I found this to be more disturbing than even Life Is Hot In Cracktown and A Serbian Film. This is truly rough stuff, definitely not for the squeamish.
leazes69 Great Movie with some great gay interest scenesThis story is about sexual exploitation and drugs with the vicious circle that the two often involve.The DVD cover and description make it quite clear what the film is about, so you are unlikely to watch it thinking it is a family movie or one for a romantic evening with your girlfriend, unless you are both very broadminded. It's sole purpose is not in my opinion to shock people into saying I must go and do whatever I can to help help those poor boys. If that it's sole purpose there would not be scenes of sex and full frontal nudity, there would be careful editing and avoidance of scenes that might upset some viewers. Whilst the storyline portrays under age boys in prostitution, those actors that you see nude or engaged in sex are clearly of legal age.The storyline has similarities to Christiane F, which was a film about a young teenage girl who also has to resort to selling herself for sex to get money for her increasing drug addiction. I think the sole intention of that film (based on the book) was to make people aware of the problem of drug addiction allegedly in the former east Germany at that timeIn this film the interests and sex varies from client to client from vanilla to quite extreme, the film would lack entertainment value and the viewer would loose interest without that in my opinion.As a gay interest film there some scenes which could be viewed by some as quite erotic, one example where the main actor Marek is nude on a rotating pedestal and a game of pool with strip poker like rules.Clearly exploitation of anyone is wrong and I don't condone the storyline to be acceptable, but sex, murder and crime attracts viewers and sells movies and books. The film is very brave in portraying the subject matter that it does and deserves a watch, perhaps more than once.
rdugrandbois The seedy world of Czech gay prostitution and porn is given an uncompromising pasting in this chilling account of a provincial school boy's experiences when drawn to the big city. Yes, it is completely over the top. Virtually every character he meets is either violent, nasty, selfish or simply insane. A pimp terrorizes his boys like a 20th. century Fagin sending them out to service clients whilst keeping every dollar for himself and beating up any dissenters. A porn film maker expects his models to ejaculate to order in ten seconds whilst directly overlooked by his brood of pre-teenage daughters carrying mugs of coffee. Clients brutalize their boys with savage sadism and unspeakable perversion. These things may happen in isolated incidents but the broad mass of prostitution and porn is not quite as black as the film makes out. It is a cartoon image of filth that shocks the viewer into serious thought and conflicting emotions. It is absolutely brilliant.
zkapil Its a true story. Story is really the most depressing of all the movies i have seen. And its a beautifully made movie.See how human beings can become beasts. I thought there is no God in the world where this can happen.What should i say more u have to see it urself. I saw the movie 3-4 months back but its still very fresh on my mind.Marek (protagnist), age 16, goes to Prague (a big city) where he and so many of his age group from smaller towns end up being prostitutes. People from richer countries of europe and US come there and exploit these poor boys.