This movie from Czechoslovakia was banned in West Germany. They said then that it was hostile to Germans. I bet today a word with -phobe might have been used. Surprise! Czechs make a film about the occupation of their country. Who would expect a Germanophile result?
A quality of the film is, however, that it is not only black and white, but shows a variety of different reactions in the population. Many are just angry, but don't join the resistance actively. There are opportunists who adapt to the circumstances. In a way it portrays daily life of Czechs during the occupation.
On the other side there are the German forces. They are not, as in many other movies, a homogeneous mass, but there are discernible individualities, e.g. the head of the Gestapo.
The main emotional appeal of this movie is, of course, to show how the lives and ambitions of three young people are crushed and wasted for some stupid joke.
Propaganda, certainly, but with shades and gradings. Art? The director definitely could do more than he is showing to us here.
4/10
A quality of the film is, however, that it is not only black and white, but shows a variety of different reactions in the population. Many are just angry, but don't join the resistance actively. There are opportunists who adapt to the circumstances. In a way it portrays daily life of Czechs during the occupation.
On the other side there are the German forces. They are not, as in many other movies, a homogeneous mass, but there are discernible individualities, e.g. the head of the Gestapo.
The main emotional appeal of this movie is, of course, to show how the lives and ambitions of three young people are crushed and wasted for some stupid joke.
Propaganda, certainly, but with shades and gradings. Art? The director definitely could do more than he is showing to us here.
4/10
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