Overview
Two boys flee a concentration camp, struggling for survival in a war-torn landscape.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Dense
- Violence
- Graphic
- harrowing
- oppressive
- surreal
- serious film study
- arthouse cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly recognize the film's formally masterful, emotionally intuitive depiction of wartime escape, though some find its sustained misery distancing or ineffective.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The fugitives' present flight is purposefully scrambled with recollections and imagined episodes from camp life and civilian society.
Fever-dreamed ants, delusional thoughts, and Buñuellian images intrude upon the boys' escape through the countryside.
Hunger, ill-fitting shoes, exhaustion, hiding, and the constant threat of gunfire define the boys' struggle.
The protagonists are boys escaping a concentration camp while shedding identifying coats and evading capture.
Films like Diamonds of the Night, and why
The Cremator
shared czech new wave experimentation, wartime trauma, and fractured psychological realism
The Pawnbroker
shared holocaust subject, young protagonists under persecution, and stark moral intensity
The Ascent
shared fragmented memory, surrealist imagery, and intimate confrontation with wartime violence
Son of Saul
shared austere war drama, subjective dread, and anti-romantic depiction of survival
Movie Details
- Director
- Jan Němec
- Release Date
- 1964-09-25
- Runtime
- 67 min
- Rating
- 7.0 / 10 (76)
Cast
- Ladislav Janský
- Antonín Kumbera
- Ilse Bischofová
- Jan Říha
- Ivan Asič
- August Bischof
- Josef Koggel
- Oskar Müller
- Anton Schich
- Rudolf Stolle
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
- Rent
- Apple TV Store
- Buy
- Apple TV Store
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Diamonds of the Night about?
- Two concentration-camp escapees cross a hostile wartime landscape where hunger, pain, memory, and hallucination become inseparable.
- What is Diamonds of the Night like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Diamonds of the Night as breakneck, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as dense.
- Is Diamonds of the Night violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Diamonds of the Night as graphic.
- What did critics think of Diamonds of the Night?
- Critics broadly recognize the film's formally masterful, emotionally intuitive depiction of wartime escape, though some find its sustained misery distancing or ineffective.
- Which films are like Diamonds of the Night?
- Films with a similar feel include The Cremator, The Pawnbroker, The Ascent, and Son of Saul.
- How long is Diamonds of the Night?
- Diamonds of the Night runs 67 minutes.
- Where can I watch Diamonds of the Night?
- In United States, Diamonds of the Night streams on Criterion Channel.
