Wiktor Grodecki's " Body Without Soul " invites the courageous to the prequel of his sensationally dark film, Mandragora. This graphic film depicts the appalling process by which young prepubescence and teen age boys in Prague are so skillfully lured into the eviscerated life of a male prostitute. Candid interviews with both predators and victims alike allow the visitor to observe how deftly and skillfully an unsympathetic pimp/promoter/and oftentimes executioner, can entice, convince and then blackmail his victims into becoming porn stars. Systemic of a life of poverty, the boys recall how easily they and their peers became street hustlers. Converging at a well-known swimming pool in the city, unsuspecting victims are attracted by the promise of money, and too often find themselves defending the tragic lifestyle of the walking dead. This film is not for the faint-hearted, but rather for those wishing to obtain the remnants of humanity on the verge of self-destruction.
12 Reviews
not for the timid.
aptpupil7920 June 2003
not for the timid. probably the most brutal documentary i've ever seen. it's about boy prostitutes in prague. they make their living by turning tricks and acting in gay porn films. we meet several of the kids and one of the most popular porn gay porn directors in the region. this film truly is not for the faint of heart. it's tough to get through, but brutality and depravity are a part of life and that's easy to forget when you have a frig full of food and live in a city of 60,000. artistically the film was shot well, with a score that works well, but is probably over-used. the structure really does a good job of juxtaposing certain images and motifs to rather shocking results. B.
Powerful, Sickening, and Very Disturbing
gftbiloxi22 April 2005
Some are ugly, some are attractive; some use drugs, some do not; some are stupid, some are average, some are smart. And all of them are teenage male prostitutes working the streets of Prague. Their clients consist largely of German, Swiss, and Dutch tourists in search of cheap sex--and for additional income they make pornos on the side. And along the way they are ripped off, abused, and degraded until they simply wear out.
Wiktor Grodecki's documentary BODY WITHOUT SOUL is a dark and disturbing look at life on the streets of Prague. The film consists of interviews with a dozen or so teenagers describing how they first began on the streets, how they drifted into prostitution and pornography. Some of the subjects seemed drugged; others are surprisingly articulate. The centerpiece of the film, however, is an extended interview with a pornographic film director who at first attempts to gloss over the unsavory aspects of his work--and who ends by unintentionally revealing just how vicious he actually is. The pornographer is also a pathologist, and the camera follows him into the autopsy room and films him at work. Grodecki then intercuts these scenes with scenes of him directing his latest film, thus making the point that these boys are no more to those who use them than so much meat.
Although it is exceptionally well done, I would hesitate to recommend BODY WITHOUT SOUL to a casual viewer. It is a moving film, a powerful testament re the old, old story of man's inhumanity to man... But many will find the autopsy scenes repulsive beyond their toleration, and I cannot imagine that many will watch the film more than once. Recommended, but as a rental rather than a purchase.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Wiktor Grodecki's documentary BODY WITHOUT SOUL is a dark and disturbing look at life on the streets of Prague. The film consists of interviews with a dozen or so teenagers describing how they first began on the streets, how they drifted into prostitution and pornography. Some of the subjects seemed drugged; others are surprisingly articulate. The centerpiece of the film, however, is an extended interview with a pornographic film director who at first attempts to gloss over the unsavory aspects of his work--and who ends by unintentionally revealing just how vicious he actually is. The pornographer is also a pathologist, and the camera follows him into the autopsy room and films him at work. Grodecki then intercuts these scenes with scenes of him directing his latest film, thus making the point that these boys are no more to those who use them than so much meat.
Although it is exceptionally well done, I would hesitate to recommend BODY WITHOUT SOUL to a casual viewer. It is a moving film, a powerful testament re the old, old story of man's inhumanity to man... But many will find the autopsy scenes repulsive beyond their toleration, and I cannot imagine that many will watch the film more than once. Recommended, but as a rental rather than a purchase.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
A documentary, which should be seen by everyone
ninoguapo21 December 2005
First I watched "Mandragora" an excellent, trough very depressing movie. Than being found of documentary movies I decided to watch "Body without Soul " based on other user comments I expected this to be another dark and depressing masterpiece of Wiktor Grodecki. Instead it turned out to be very powerful documentary, with a lot of life lessons.
You might be surprised by my statement above and so was my grandmother when I discussed the film with her. She asked me why was I watching such movies anyway and my answer was because I rather see it on the screen than get a real life experience like the boys shown in " Body Without Soul " . If some of them had seen similar movie before they decided to cell their bodies may be they wouldn't have made the steps which brought them in the hands of the porno producers That is why my opinion is that movies such as Body without Soul should be viewed by as many people as possible as they are sure to make them think about what they had just seen and if they could do something to prevent it happening to them or their friends or relatives.
Some of the boy prostitutes interviewed in this movie seemed to deal pretty well with their lifestyle and profession, other were making just the opposite impression. In the movie you can see an the interview with a pornographic film director to my surprise he wasn't shown as the absolute evil but rather as a person who makes his living from shooting porno( and working at the morgue ) with his sins and mistakes , but still real and accurate character as all characters in this documentary are...
You might be surprised by my statement above and so was my grandmother when I discussed the film with her. She asked me why was I watching such movies anyway and my answer was because I rather see it on the screen than get a real life experience like the boys shown in " Body Without Soul " . If some of them had seen similar movie before they decided to cell their bodies may be they wouldn't have made the steps which brought them in the hands of the porno producers That is why my opinion is that movies such as Body without Soul should be viewed by as many people as possible as they are sure to make them think about what they had just seen and if they could do something to prevent it happening to them or their friends or relatives.
Some of the boy prostitutes interviewed in this movie seemed to deal pretty well with their lifestyle and profession, other were making just the opposite impression. In the movie you can see an the interview with a pornographic film director to my surprise he wasn't shown as the absolute evil but rather as a person who makes his living from shooting porno( and working at the morgue ) with his sins and mistakes , but still real and accurate character as all characters in this documentary are...
Difficult to watch
rosecalifornia30 July 2015
Keeping in mind that this was made in 1996 or so...the documentary is difficult to watch. I actually was able to only get through about 15 or 20 minutes before I stopped it.
The filmmaker seem to have a very open connection with the young men that were interviewed for this documentary - however - what make it difficult was not the candidness of the lifestyle and exploitation of these children. But it is almost a documentary skewed toward titillation for a certain audience, almost like it would have been shown in a back alley theater or something. Not sure why the movie interviewed the young men in provocative.....stances or positions.... rather than something more straight forward like an informative documentary. That really makes someone question what was truly behind the documentary.
The filmmaker seem to have a very open connection with the young men that were interviewed for this documentary - however - what make it difficult was not the candidness of the lifestyle and exploitation of these children. But it is almost a documentary skewed toward titillation for a certain audience, almost like it would have been shown in a back alley theater or something. Not sure why the movie interviewed the young men in provocative.....stances or positions.... rather than something more straight forward like an informative documentary. That really makes someone question what was truly behind the documentary.
Relentlessly heart-breaking
Jiji-32 June 2005
As someone who is trying to help a 23 year old recover from that lifestyle, I can say the film is a very accurate representation of not just boy prostitution in Prague in the 1990s but of boy prostitution as such. I saw it, along with many other films on that subject, because I wanted to educate myself as much as possible and had exhausted all other sources of information I could think of. Of the docos I saw, "Body Without Soul" was the most in-depth. The 2 hours (maybe 2+, I'm not sure) went in the blink of an eye, the film draws you in. In that sense, it's easy to get through but otherwise it's beyond painful, it hits very close to home and it hits repeatedly. The fate of one of the boys being interviewed - the youngest, most articulate and most beautiful, of course - is particularly heart-breaking. I finished watching the movie a few hours ago and I'm hurting almost physically.
Contrary to what other reviewers have said, I would recommend this film to anyone and everyone because the truth of the matter is that however unsavory, the subject "Body Without Soul" deals with is one people should be a lot more familiar with than most currently are. I find myself wondering what those who voted 5 or worse are evaluating exactly, said subject matter or their own reaction to the film. If it's the former, I can only advise them to direct their negative energy elsewhere. The movie didn't invent prostitution, adult males did. If it's the latter - if Body without Soul made them feel bad enough to hate it - then they should have given it a 10.
Contrary to what other reviewers have said, I would recommend this film to anyone and everyone because the truth of the matter is that however unsavory, the subject "Body Without Soul" deals with is one people should be a lot more familiar with than most currently are. I find myself wondering what those who voted 5 or worse are evaluating exactly, said subject matter or their own reaction to the film. If it's the former, I can only advise them to direct their negative energy elsewhere. The movie didn't invent prostitution, adult males did. If it's the latter - if Body without Soul made them feel bad enough to hate it - then they should have given it a 10.
Death and the Pornographer
EdgarST31 March 2018
In «Body Without Soul», Wiktor Grodecki's second installment of his trilogy on male prostitution in the Czech Republic, the filmmaker tackled the industry of homosexual pornography in the country, and he was lucky to have the participation of Pavel Rousek, pornographer in his free time and medical examiner as his profession. Rousek is a character that alternates between the repulsive and the fascinating, but it is he who brings Grodecki out of porno-misery and his method of editing and using music.
Once again, Grodecki is talking about Death, about sex that neither procreates nor derives pleasure, but an activity done in front of a cheap camera, for little pay, with no protection and enduring physical abuse. In these times, in which life has depreciated to the point that anyone is killed for a peanut, in which people sell their bodies because they have reduced it to the category of mere shell, «Body Without Soul» is a timely product, even though 23 years have passed since its release.
Grodecki also had one more time a group of young prostitutes between 14 and 19 years old, who spoke with courage to the camera. Among them, there is a young man who, as the film progresses, reveals that he has acquired AIDS, while the others speak frankly of their lack of fear of Death. Then you have Rousek: the pornographer not only gave an interview, but also allowed himself to be filmed during the shooting of one of his movies and, even more impressive, at work in the morgue, in front of a corpse that he dismembered, while making parallels between both activities.
However, Grodecki could not lose the habit of mellowing, melodramatizing and manipulating the audience with fragments of the most tearful music ever composed by Albinoni, Mahler, Vivaldi, Allegri and Mozart. Not even the group Olympic contributed something cheerful, but the weeping ballad "Tears of Your Mother". Neither on this occasion, Grodecki tried to contextualize his documentary in time and place, on the economic, political or social situation of the Czech Republic. Where, how and why did these guys come up with the idea of practicing prostitution or appearing in gay porno? Out of the blue? Because of hunger, but why were they hungry? Simply because they are amoral, ignorant or cynical? There are no answers.
In spite of everything, there is a notable advance in «Body Without Soul» when compared to the first installment of the trilogy, «Not Angels But Angels». Despite the endless music and sound effects, both documentaries will serve as historical memory of the beautiful city of Prague, at a time when it was being eaten away by a contagious and lethal disease. Followed by «Mandragora», last part of the trilogy.
Once again, Grodecki is talking about Death, about sex that neither procreates nor derives pleasure, but an activity done in front of a cheap camera, for little pay, with no protection and enduring physical abuse. In these times, in which life has depreciated to the point that anyone is killed for a peanut, in which people sell their bodies because they have reduced it to the category of mere shell, «Body Without Soul» is a timely product, even though 23 years have passed since its release.
Grodecki also had one more time a group of young prostitutes between 14 and 19 years old, who spoke with courage to the camera. Among them, there is a young man who, as the film progresses, reveals that he has acquired AIDS, while the others speak frankly of their lack of fear of Death. Then you have Rousek: the pornographer not only gave an interview, but also allowed himself to be filmed during the shooting of one of his movies and, even more impressive, at work in the morgue, in front of a corpse that he dismembered, while making parallels between both activities.
However, Grodecki could not lose the habit of mellowing, melodramatizing and manipulating the audience with fragments of the most tearful music ever composed by Albinoni, Mahler, Vivaldi, Allegri and Mozart. Not even the group Olympic contributed something cheerful, but the weeping ballad "Tears of Your Mother". Neither on this occasion, Grodecki tried to contextualize his documentary in time and place, on the economic, political or social situation of the Czech Republic. Where, how and why did these guys come up with the idea of practicing prostitution or appearing in gay porno? Out of the blue? Because of hunger, but why were they hungry? Simply because they are amoral, ignorant or cynical? There are no answers.
In spite of everything, there is a notable advance in «Body Without Soul» when compared to the first installment of the trilogy, «Not Angels But Angels». Despite the endless music and sound effects, both documentaries will serve as historical memory of the beautiful city of Prague, at a time when it was being eaten away by a contagious and lethal disease. Followed by «Mandragora», last part of the trilogy.
A Brutally Powerful Documentary: Wiktor Grodecki's Precursor to MANDRAGORA
gradyharp21 September 2005
Wiktor Grodecki is a brave filmmaker, one who is unafraid to address a controversial subject, yet one who is able to make a powerful sociological statement by creating a metaphorical art film that demands respect.
Grodecki interviews young boys (ages 14 - 17) who are male hustlers in Prague: he wisely removes (for the most part) the interviewer questions allowing the individual boys to make spontaneous, searing comments. These young lads discuss why they became male prostitutes, how they deal with selling their bodies, where they find their business (the train station, the swimming pools, etc), how they feel about the johns and about their fellow hustlers, the manner in which they do business including the way in which the financial aspects come to play - all in a way that burns the faces of these young lads into our psyches.
About half way through this film Grodecki introduces Pavel Rousek, a man who by day is a pathologist performing autopsies in the Prague morgue and in his off hours (using the pseudonym Hans Miller) creates, casts and directs gay porno videos in his home. Rousek is shown at the autopsy table gowning, gloving, and grotesquely performing an autopsy on a real cadaver while discussing both professions. There are moments while he is gloving that he explains why he doesn't allow his boys to wear condoms (the buyers of his videos don't want to see condoms), and the contrast between his self protection vs the enforcement of prevention of sexual protection of his actors is devastating.
Rousek as Miller is then shown filming the boys in his home, explaining the details of achieving the visual effects of pornography: simultaneously we again hear the boys views of that aspect of their 'careers', creating a pitiful tension. There is almost no total nudity in this film and when it does occur the lighting is so dark as to obscure it - making the overall effect even more dense and effectively tense. Under all of this lurid talk Grodecki uses classical music - Albinoni, Mahler, Mozart - which again provides a contradiction that makes the topic digestible.
The final question Grodecki poses to his subjects involves the boys perception of 'soul' and while there is a variety of responses, the overall message is that these lads sell their bodies as a career, but the soul is 'what you think', something that cannot be taken from you. Several of these boys have screen presence and faces that, were they noticed by regular film makers, would probably give them legitimate careers. But the power of the film comes from the words of these boys, knowing completely their choice of life, and therein lies the sorrow.
This is a tough but very fine piece of film-making. Interestingly, Grodecki absorbed this material and used it to create his subsequent feature film MANDRAGORA (reviewed under that title). This film is the more powerful of the two. Not a movie for everyone, but certainly an important document about a way of life few know and fewer understand. Grady Harp
Grodecki interviews young boys (ages 14 - 17) who are male hustlers in Prague: he wisely removes (for the most part) the interviewer questions allowing the individual boys to make spontaneous, searing comments. These young lads discuss why they became male prostitutes, how they deal with selling their bodies, where they find their business (the train station, the swimming pools, etc), how they feel about the johns and about their fellow hustlers, the manner in which they do business including the way in which the financial aspects come to play - all in a way that burns the faces of these young lads into our psyches.
About half way through this film Grodecki introduces Pavel Rousek, a man who by day is a pathologist performing autopsies in the Prague morgue and in his off hours (using the pseudonym Hans Miller) creates, casts and directs gay porno videos in his home. Rousek is shown at the autopsy table gowning, gloving, and grotesquely performing an autopsy on a real cadaver while discussing both professions. There are moments while he is gloving that he explains why he doesn't allow his boys to wear condoms (the buyers of his videos don't want to see condoms), and the contrast between his self protection vs the enforcement of prevention of sexual protection of his actors is devastating.
Rousek as Miller is then shown filming the boys in his home, explaining the details of achieving the visual effects of pornography: simultaneously we again hear the boys views of that aspect of their 'careers', creating a pitiful tension. There is almost no total nudity in this film and when it does occur the lighting is so dark as to obscure it - making the overall effect even more dense and effectively tense. Under all of this lurid talk Grodecki uses classical music - Albinoni, Mahler, Mozart - which again provides a contradiction that makes the topic digestible.
The final question Grodecki poses to his subjects involves the boys perception of 'soul' and while there is a variety of responses, the overall message is that these lads sell their bodies as a career, but the soul is 'what you think', something that cannot be taken from you. Several of these boys have screen presence and faces that, were they noticed by regular film makers, would probably give them legitimate careers. But the power of the film comes from the words of these boys, knowing completely their choice of life, and therein lies the sorrow.
This is a tough but very fine piece of film-making. Interestingly, Grodecki absorbed this material and used it to create his subsequent feature film MANDRAGORA (reviewed under that title). This film is the more powerful of the two. Not a movie for everyone, but certainly an important document about a way of life few know and fewer understand. Grady Harp
A useful and distinct film
smiledaydream18 December 2020
A useful and distinct film. It does a pretty good job of getting viewpoints from the workers and somebody they work with. The filmmaker chose to mix filming of an autopsy with filming of a sex video which I suppose was supposed to be meaningful. That's a form of art. Also required looking away from the screen a lot. I don't think the movie makes a point that all of the industry is this bad but definitely the people working for this person we're not having a good time and you can see why. A lot of what you hear is very offensive.
This film is deeply flawed
didier-202 December 2005
Aside from the jaw dropping sensationalism of this film making, which left me speechless at several points......Once i came back to earth i feel it has to be said that this is "auteur" film masquerading as documentary. As documentary film, it remains irresponsible. The film maker went on to make three films about this subject, and it's more about the film makers own obsessions than anything else. Was it a film about a period in a drug crazed pornographer's monstrous life and how he moved from beyond horror and into the absurdly grotesque.(dark, dark,black comedy) ?? As documentary, i thought this was it's most successful subject. To say it is a film about under age male prostitution in Praha is incorrect. Only part of that reality is ever revealed, so much of what ought to have been explored simply remains absent.To have done all these boys honour & justice, he would have had to expand the true context of their lives and humanised them as much as possible. In the very least abandon a sensationalist and mythologising approach in favour of level headed factual survey. He did not. To say it is a film about pornography in Praha is also incorrect. Again only a small part of that reality is seen, and most left out. No other geographical or social context was explored, no interviews with police or other pornographers. No context of what life is like now in the city of Praha, concerning these matters. To this extent you can charge the director with exploitation of these boys as much as anybody else. This film is a pornographic documentary about sex, drugs and death which happens to be set in Praha . The audience manipulation is phenomenal. I really had to re-check in myself a number of realities after it had finished. Be critical and don't just take this highly disturbing film at face value.
Gloomy, yet apparently realistic overview of young male prostitution
BeneCumb3 August 2015
Generally, I am not into documentaries, not against them, really, but I choose to follow the topics that a) I like and know b) are totally unknown to me. Telo bez duse falls into the latter category as I have never been even approached by a man offering to sell himself, but several awards and accolades promised to obtain a thorough picture of what was going on in a 1990ies post-socialist country.
And yes, I am generally satisfied with the result, although the thoughts and comprehensions of the boys are more profound and versatile than those of the man who irresponsibly and stonily victimised the boys who were even often neither gays nor bisexuals... Thus, there is even no frivolous glamour, but real lowlife, lots of violence, drugs, abuse, poverty, diseases. The filmmaker's daily employment in performing autopsies provides the film with macabre undertones, as in other circumstances, his thoughts and actions would be just odd and sometimes darkly humorous, but as for his "creations" with underage hetero boys (being a family man with children!), he is just plain and loathsome.
The film in question could also be a warning film for teens who sometimes think that prostitution is a quick money and plentiful entertainment.
And yes, I am generally satisfied with the result, although the thoughts and comprehensions of the boys are more profound and versatile than those of the man who irresponsibly and stonily victimised the boys who were even often neither gays nor bisexuals... Thus, there is even no frivolous glamour, but real lowlife, lots of violence, drugs, abuse, poverty, diseases. The filmmaker's daily employment in performing autopsies provides the film with macabre undertones, as in other circumstances, his thoughts and actions would be just odd and sometimes darkly humorous, but as for his "creations" with underage hetero boys (being a family man with children!), he is just plain and loathsome.
The film in question could also be a warning film for teens who sometimes think that prostitution is a quick money and plentiful entertainment.
Spoilers..foreign LGBTQ film... mixed feelings about this one
ksf-25 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Minor spoilers....Interesting LGBT piece on prostitution in Prague, told by (some are underage) hustlers, and, theoretically, the director of the pornos himself, who hires the hustlers to perform in his films. We finally get the arc of the story, how the hustlers tell one side of the working relationship, how they kept requesting condoms, but were refused by the director. The director even brags about punching the actors if they don't do what he says. some weirdness, left turns, and dead ends, to be sure. They show numerous, lengthy scenes of the director, at his day job, cutting up bodies, at the local morgue. which really has no bloody connection to the hustlers' stories. and the entire time, the hustler dudes all act as if they have rehearsed their lines, or maybe they are all just actors anyway? who knows. i think some of it is lost in translation... (and WHY do they put white captions on a white background?? ) interesting collection of life stories by the hustlers... some are very authentic and self aware, while others claim to be straight, but constantly sleep with men. Written and directed by Wiktor Grodecki. not sure what to think about this one. i may need to watch it again before i know for sure. showing on FilmRise channel. Seems to be produced in 1996, so hopefully we have made some advances since then.
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