"Unbearable Lightness" A Hit in Czech Republic

22 years after it became an international sensation, author Milan Kundera's masterpiece "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being" is finally available in the Czech Republic in an official translation. Naturally, it's a smash hit, since the book deals with the 1968 Prague Spring and was written by the country's most famous living author. I saw the movie before I ever read the book. The film remains one of my absolute favorites -- and director Philip Kaufman had one of the greatest one-two punches in cinema history by following "The Right Stuff" with that gem. Then I read the book and while it absolutely captures the spirit and elusive charm of the book, I still can't believe anyone actually read it and thought something that abstract and literary should be made into a movie. Even after seeing the movie, I would have sworn it was impossible to make a decent film, much less a masterpiece, from it. Both are recommended highly.