Of all the Czech films I have seen, this is the most sentimental one by far. It consciously ticks all the right boxes of the Hollywood cliché formula, of which the Oscar awarding Academy just can't seem to get enough:
Two complete strangers, with incongruent personalities and opposing goals in life, are forced upon each other by circumstance. Initially they hate each other and fail to communicate, but having to undergo life's hardships together a bond of friendship and true love is formed. This bond redeems the flawed personality traits of one of the protagonists, the one who starts off in the film way too self-assured. The other protagonist may also be redeemed but in a completely different way, for instance physically rather than mentally.
There's a streak of naive rebelliousness. But rather than being political radicals, our protagonists rebel merely to preserve their friendship at all costs, which is under threat due to a misunderstanding of the authorities. In their own humble way our heroes get caught up in a major historical event. ("Congratulations, how do you feel?" "I gotta pee." [turning to camera]: " I believe he said he had to go pee. Heh heh.") The historical event puts the authorities back in their place, thus magically conspiring to save the bond between our protagonists.
All this is served with a dash of pseudo-risqué jokes, tenderness and (very important!) male vulnerability as the token signifier of depth of characterisation, with a light sprinkle of doe-eyed tears along the way towards the guaranteed happy ending.
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The golden age of Czech cinema was in the 1960s and early 1970s, and is called Czech New Wave (in my opinion far superior to French New Wave). These films, often critical of Communism, had to be very creative to get round state censorship. This creativeness is not only expressed by how the anti-authoritarian message is conveyed plot-wise, but also stylistically.
Here are a few, most of which can be found on the excellent DVD label Second Run:
1) Jiri Weiss - Romeo, Julia A Tma (Romeo, Juliet And Darkness, 1960)
2) Milos Forman - Konkurs (Audition, 1963)
3) Jan Nemec - Démanty Noci (Diamonds of the Night, 1964)
A non-linear (or "circular") film about two boys on the run from hunters.
4) Jan Nemec - O slavnosti a hostech (The Party And the Guests, 1966)
About the highly arbitrary nature of the abuse of authoritarian power.
5) Ivan Passer - Intimni osvetleni (Intimate Lighting, 1966)
An amateur string quartet gets together in the countryside to practice Mozart, they are often disturbed by their female companions.
6) Vera Chytilová - Sedmikrásky (Daisies, 1966)
An experimental feminist film about two hip girls who just want to have fun.
7) Jiri Menzel - Ostre sledované vlaky (Closely Observed Trains, 1966)
A dark comedy about sex and heroism with a small "h" that takes place at a village railway station during the Nazi occupation.
8) Frantisek Vlacil - Marketa Lazarova (1967)
A medieval epic about war and paganism.
9) Juraj Herz - Spalovac mrtvol (The Cremator, 1968)
About a Czech Nazi collaborator who takes part in the Holocaust, an interesting take on how someone tries to justify his "ethnic cleansing" (a.k.a. genocide).
10) Jaromil Jires - Valerie a tyden divu (Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, 1970)
A Surrealist Alice in Wonderland type vampire story about the coming of age of an adolescent girl.
11) Karel Kachyna - Ucho (The Ear, 1970)
About the surveillance in a totalitarian state, and how it drives innocent people crazy with fear and paranoid suspicion.
The last six in that list are my personal favourites.
Unfortunately Czech film has never been as good since then, but more recent films available on DVD worth checking out are:
Petr Zelenka - Knoflikari (Buttoners, 1997)
Vladimír Michálek - Babí léto (Autumn Spring, 2001)
Jan Sverák - Vratné lahve (Empties, 2007)
And, of course, the excellent animation films by Jan Svankmajer (Alice, Faust, etc.) and Jirí Barta (Krysar, a.k.a. Labyrinth of Darkness, 1986) .
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