There is a tradition, especially in the rich Eastern European cinema of the iron fist Communist era, of infusing tragic stories with a giddy, even joyful whimsy.

The point was not to make light of tragedies. On the contrary, the offbeat comedy often made the situations more poignant, more pointed and decidedly more human. The technique also let many of these films fly beneath the radar of the repressive and humourless government censors.
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