Underground (1972)

One of Ságl’s few non-documentary films captures the underground scene in one static shot showing a never-ending mass of people emerging from the escalator in the Prague metro. Although it is clearly a structural film – a fixed composition with several layers of motion – Ságl also uses it to explore social issues. The mass of commuters is carried forward by a seemingly unstoppable force without any chance of escaping the flow of people – an image of early Normalization in the 1970s. The film was repeatedly projected as a visual accompaniment to concerts by the Plastic People.