The Foreigner's Guide to Living in Slovakia

These last few years there’s been a lot of chatter about the film Bathory, the story of Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1641), “the Blood Countess”, infamous for torturing and killing hundreds of girls. She lived most of her life and died in her dungeon at Čachtice Castle, in present-day Slovakia

Information about the release of the film is still confusing. At one point it was to be released in 2007 but that didn’t happen. In the film database website IMDB it states that the film will be debuted in Czechia and Slovakia in June and July of 2008. Over the last several months I’ve read some different interesting facts about Bathory including that the film will be in English, it’s written and directed by a Slovak, it’s apparently the most expensive Czech and Slovak film ever made, and among its many sources of funding includes the Slovak Ministry of Culture.

Last year Katka Knechtová, from the Slovak band Peha, and who is probably my most favorite female Slovak singer, debuted a song from Bathory called Muoj Bože – My God. The lyrics of the song are based on a biblical psalm written in a now extinct language, something of a combination of the Czech and Slovak languages. I had no idea such a language ever existed but there you have it.

The song is performed beautifully. The melody is memorable and a little sad, and Katka’s voice conveys just the right amount of emotion/desperation to get it right.

At the bottom of this blog is a portion of the lyrics and a translation that I found on youtube. Youtube has, of course, several videos on the Bathory film and related topics. There is also an extended English-language trailer of the film and several video creations of the Bathory song, Muoj Bože.

Thus far there is no soundtrack to the film, but this might change. I’d like to get a hold of an official recording rather than just what I can find on the Internet. I’m sure I’ll track it down sooner or later.

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