Back Story Here

I have to disagree with the original poster. Everything that is in the PDF "back story" document appeared in the movie. However, I do understand that the movie may appear confusing for viewers that aren't Czechs or historians.

The truth is that one has to be really informed about history + to be able to grasp the differences between Czech, Russian, and Polish to get all the details of the story. For example (everything described below appears in the first 10 minutes of the movie):

- The "Mute" crossed the border from the Polish to the Czech side (based on the border signs with Polish)
- The switchman trades goods with the officers of the Soviet Army (which occupied Czechoslovakia since 1968 after the demise of "Prague Spring" until 1990), because the officers speak in Russian. Sadly, English subtitles translate everything word-by-word without pinpointing the language differences. I consider this a definite drawback of the movie.
- Some interrogation in the mental asylum is done by Polish policemen (because they speak Polish).

One also has to know that in 1945, nearly all ethnic Germans (who often lived in the area for many centuries) were forcibly expelled out of Czechoslovakia. Many atrocities happened during that process.

Last, the story starts about 2 months before the fall of Communism in Czechoslovakia. The regime change is depicted in the movie through the news heard over the radio (the news bits talk about the election of President Vaclav Havel, etc.).

Agree with razorback. As a Czech national with knowledge of history of the region, I absolutely enjoyed the story and the fact that historical events were very subtle in the background. However, I think it is a big fail that they didn't make any effort to make a very slightly changed international version so others can understand it better. Better subtitles and brief explanations with the dates would be enough.