The Report Card, 21 min

'Report Card' focuses on discipline in the family. It plays on the fantasy that all around us, in blocks of flats and on housing estates, school girls get their bare behinds spanked. Behind closed doors, away from prying eyes, disobedient girls are caned by their parents. It is a compelling fantasy and well executed in this film. The secondary fetish explored in 'Report Card' is voyeurism. A young man on a visit to his relations with his father is allowed to watch his female cousins being spanked. The teenage girls are deeply embarrassed by this. What unfolds in 'Report Card' is a domestic drama. It is a comic situation. Unfortunately a lot of the verbal humour will be lost on those who don't speak Czech. But the cinematography is good enough to allow you follow the plot. The scene is set with two schoolgirls walking home clutching their report cards. They linger outside a block of flats, worried about showing their parents the disappointing results. Inside the flat there is a small feast taking place. Cousin and uncle are being entertained by the girls' parents. Lots of food and chat. Out of nowhere we hear the unmistakable sound of a female being chastised. It comes from the flat next door. Someone has had a bad report card. Then we are there, inside a bedroom watching a girl being caned. We don't see any faces. She is bent over the end of her iron bed frame, white underpants pulled down to her white knee socks, her white vest pulled up over her breasts. It is a shocking shift in mood, good cinematography. The caning itself is also shocking. The strokes are rapid and whippy, covering the backs of her legs as well as her behind. There is no pause in the 100-stroke thrashing. Nor is there any talking; only the tears and cries of the schoolgirl as her behind is flogged. In the course of a minute we see the colour and texture of her bottom and legs transformed. From a creamy white smoothness they become raw, red and swollen. Some ruby drops form on her thighs. It is an extraordinary scene, and a very short one. For many viewers this will be the highlight of the video. It is among the most memorable and authentic canings I've seen. Back in the flat the feast continues. They act as though there is nothing unusual in a girl having her bottom thrashed. The sound of the beating goes on through the walls. We continue to hear the strokes and the cries. The randy young man is shown photos of his teenage cousins sunbathing on holiday. The tension is building for their arrival. When they come home they are sent by father to get their reports. They are both brunettes. They are slim. One wears glasses. They are very plausible as senior schoolgirls. Father is visibly angry as he reads the reports. Mother produces a large wooden spoon for the first girl to take into Daddy. She is going to be spanked. The uncle gets up to leave, but the father insists they stay to watch. The young man is delighted. He is even more delighted when the schoolgirls are made to take down her panties. The over-the-knee spanking with the wooden spoon is only moderately hard - 40 strokes. One of the nice touches in the film is variation. It would have been easy to repeat the same scene exactly with the second girl. But Rigid East tends to avoid the obvious. Instead we see her sitting on the toilet. She has locked herself in to avoid the spanking. Her irate father demands she come out. Before she does, she puts on a sanitary towel. She hopes this will save her from taking down her knickers in front of her cousin. Father isn't taken in by the ploy. He has mother check her out. It's discovered she isn't having a period. Knickers down, she is spooned harder than her sister - again about 40 strokes. The first sister goes next door to see her friend - the girl who was caned. She lies face down on her bed clutching a pillow. She is under a duvet. They swap stories. The duvet is pulled aside to show the severity of the caning. We see her welted bottom and legs, including some nasty ruby on her thighs. It would have been nice to linger a little longer on this longer. The idea of girls showing each other their smacked bottoms is very sexy. 'The Report Card' is a quality spanking film. Production values are high. It has its own musical score, as do all the recent Rigid East films. The light waltz enhances the atmosphere of the domestic setting. When the music stops the mood darkens. Then punishment begins.