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Operace Silver A (2007)
To make things clear: This movie is really good
Not without reason it got a prize for the best Czech TV movie of the year and one wonders, why it didn't make it to the theatre. Especially the second part is very chilly and thrilling. However, it is also true that the way with which the filmmakers handled the story can be viewed as problematic by many people acquianted with the real historical events.
As the name indicates, the movie is devoted to the heroes of World War II, paratroopers from the group "Silver A" (Barto, Valčík, Potůček), which was one of the most successful sabotage groups that had landed in the Protectorate (besides "Out Distance" and "Anthropoid"), and had also been involved in the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. The irony is that the actual story mainly deals with the fates of Hana Krupková and Táňa Hladěnová, two young females dreaming about star career in the Czech cinema, who played an important part in the underground net of the Czech resistance. The third person that gives a lot of space is captain Barto, the commander of "Silver A".
The screenwriters obviously (ab)used the fact that Barto had been a renowned womanizer, and filled the movie with love affairs that had little to do with the actual activity of "Silver A". As a result, an unware spectator could conclude that the main goal of "Silver A" in the Protectorate was to seduce young Czech resistance members. In order to "demythicize" the glorious aureola of the Czech resistance, they went too far and the "human side" of Barto as an impertinent brat is so human that it very probably deviates dramatically from his real character - as indicated by furious complaints of his former cobilligerents.
On the other hand, it is true that some aspects of Barto' character were deeply negative - as a soldier, he was very brave, but also very reckless, and his carelessness became almost fatal for the whole group "Silver A". Furthermore, his love affair with Táňa Hladěnová that escalated into a violent conflict with her husband (an important resistance member, lawyer Frantiek Hladěna), was allegedly based on a true story.
In summary, it is very difficult to rate this movie objectively. We, who didn't know Barto personally, can only speculate to what a degree his honor was denigrated. On the other hand, the undeniable quality of this movie makes it very difficult to dismiss it even in case, if he were depicted in a perverse sort of way. In any case, it is worthy of watching, as one can learn more about people, who have usually been neglected in film depictions of Heydrich's assassination.
Lásky jedné plavovlásky (1965)
Overrated and amateurish
Colleague Planktonrules finally noticed that the Emperor had no clothes! Actually, if you watch all Forman's movies filmed before his departure to USA, you can see that they stood and fell with the performances of several excellent actors (well, in reality, non-actors). Especially Vladimír Pucholt and Josef ebánek were unforgettable, and Forman played a key role in discovering these natural-born comic geniuses. However, Forman's movies by itself were not worthy of any admiration and looked like pushing amateurish attempts with shabby script, smudged camera and miserable acting in supporting roles. Černý Petr (Black Peter), Lásky jedné plavovlásky (Loves of a Blonde) and Hoří, má panenko (The Firemen's Ball) are all "pseudo-artistic classics" that belong to this category. They are very, very different from his later work in USA, which shows that he realized he couldn't continue in this "tradition" - unless he wanted to discredit himself, of course.
What I find especially fascinating, however, is the fact that Loves of a Blonde have 16 comments on IMDb.com, and The Firemen's Ball even breathtaking 18 comments! At the same time, IMDb.com lists many great Czech movies - e.g. works of Karel Zeman, Czech fairy-tale classics, children's movies, or legendary comedies of Oldřich Lipský - in which you struggle to find one or two. This is a bizarre situation that creates a very false idea about the quality of Czech film production (which was really admirable especially during 60's and 70's), and YouTube obviously didn't help to improve it much. In any case, praising movies like The Firemen's Ball or Loves of a Blonde as jewels of Czech cinema - only because they are early works of a director, who later succeeded in USA - makes me deeply ashamed.
Mazaný Filip (2003)
Boring, almost narcoleptic
I give three stars for the visual side of the movie, otherwise I cant find almost anything good on it. At the beginning, I expected that the slow pace would change and we would see some bizarre comedy in Lemonade Joe style. Unfortunately, nothing happened and I was forced to listen to eye-closing monologue of the title hero (Tomá Hanák) and other "funny" dialogues between him and various "baddies". I really don't know what director Marhoul meant with his words that he would like to propagate it abroad, even in America. If some American saw this film misery, he would never touch a movie of Czech provenience! I was lucky to see it on DVD, otherwise I would leave a cinema house after cca 40 minutes. However, I would strongly recommend it to patients suffering from sleeplessness. But I must warn that such a tediousness can even kill.
Joan of Arc (1999)
THE MESSENGER: THE STORY OF THE LUNATIC OF ARC (AND TWO IGNORANTSFROM FRANCE)
I saw a comment that said that if Joan of Arc could see this movie, she would turn in her grave (if she had some). I must fully agree with it. Although I am no Joan's biographer, the facts that I know from her life were so deformed here that I wonder why Frenchmen didn't burn the director on a stockpile instead of her. By the way, I must laugh, when I remember the concealment around the filming of Besson's Joan in northern Moravia. No man including Martians could get there. Why did they actually hide there? Perhaps they wanted to keep back from people, what a trash they are just shooting.
Besson and his exwife allegedly undertook a deep investigation (only Gods know, where) and this French-Ukrainian collaboration resulted in a title, where Joan of Arc is "demythicized" and depicted as a furious psychotic, who runs through the screen with a staring look and even beats her soldiers with a fist (yes, here it is really possible). Poor villagers at the trial in Rouen probably lied and Besson with Jovovich revealed a big historical fraud. One thing that I can't understand is why there are so many people that can call this unbelievable garbage "a moving masterpiece". Maybe there is a lot of ignorants, who know nothing about the historical reality and maybe they have only a foggy idea about the position of France, but despite that I can't believe that somebody could think that French soldiers could follow a lunatic like this.
I am very sorry for director Marshall, who also planned a movie about Joan, but he was probably forced to put off its realization because of this silly emanation that was quicker. The Joan with Leelee Sobieski was certainly better, but Leelee simply lacks enough charisma (Although otherwise she is a very pretty and sympathetic girl, of course.)
Maybe Besson will soon make a similar biographical movie about Mother Theresa, where he will definitively demythicize her as a deviant monster abusing little Indian children. I am looking forward to positive comments on this exciting masterpiece.
Morozko (1965)
WHAT???
People, I don't understand you. This movie is a very good fairy-tale and in my country it has become so popular that it runs on TV every year. Well, it usually runs on December 31rd, which indicates that people take it partly ironically, but the movie itself is a humorous caricature and I don't understand the arguements I see here. In fact, I couldn't imagine that MOROZKO could receive such bad reviews, if I didn't see it in my own eyes.
I don't know what they did of it in the United States, but I really don't think that the English version could get close to the original. It is simply unimaginable. On the other hand, it is true that the Czech dubbing of MOROZKO is excellent and it may overcome the Russian version.
In any case, if you don't know that Baba Yaga (a common inventary of Russian fairy-tales) lives in a house on the bird's legs (which every child in my country knows very well), then nobody can help you.