Protektor

After reading so many praises on this film, I couldn't wait to see it and was really curious whether the Czech filmmaking has really gotten so much better. 

The story follows a married couple of Emil (Marek Daniel), a radio reporter, and Hana (Jana Plodková), a top film actress, during the Protectorate and culminates during the Heydrich assassination. With the Germans slowly introducing the dark cloud of propaganda and national socialism on the country, Hana is forbidden to appear in front of the camera due to her Jewish origins. She slowly sinks into depression as Emil is trying to protect her by cooperating with the occupants. But as the new regime sinks its fangs deeper in the country and its people, their marriage doesn't stand unaffected.. 

However exciting the story might seem at the first look, on the second, I saw the bubble burst in front of my eyes. But despite most of the characters and their motifs are just a display of clichés used and overused by filmmakers depicting the terrible era of the last century in Europe, there are several slightly surprising moments in how the story shifts and develops. But still, it doesn't offer anything that would make you fall on your ass. 

Again, as in most of Czech films, the plot is a likeable set of events, just enough to make a watchable film, but, unfortunately, still nothing that would strike, shock, disgust, or make you fall in love with. 

On the other hand, what is amazing and best about this film is undisputably the camera. Huge credit for what this film ended up to be goes to the director and cinematographers who, and this is rare in Czech film, know most of the time where and how they want our eyes to be at which moment, at the same time making the spectacle a real pleasure to watch.  

Unfortunately, where it goes bad is the pace and rythm. The flick runs smoothly from one shot to the next one, resembling the pace of polka rather than a tango, only occassionaly letting go to something a bit wilder, which, unfortunately still seems like a random hiccups rather than a good filmmaking.

What is definitely another downside (again) of this Czech-made piece is the acting. Unfortunately, Czech actors seem to have this block in them that prevents them to give the performance a bit more than what is required. That spice that makes the character extraordinary. As mentioned by a friend I went to see the film with and also by several reviewers elsewhere – acting is, again, soap opera-like. It's not enough just to ACT the part, you have to BE the part as well, with all its flaws and SHOW that to the camera. And please, don't try to make your character likable so much. Just do your job and leave the judging to someone else. I must say though that Jana Plodková gave her best and did try to reach for the stars and I enjoyed watching her on the screen. That was as close as it can be for me to a great acting.

If this film was made for TV, I would have appreciated it much more, but unfortunately, there is a lot more needed to capture my attention up there on the silver screen.

I don't really understand all the cheering from the CSFD.cz fans of the film. To me, it was a mediocre, nice flick to kill time with, but nothing flattering. And no, I'm not going to join the camp of those reviewers who gave it 9/10 just because "all makes sense and nicely fits together". Come on! Are we judging a disabled child here or what?

To me, I'm pleased that there's a Czech film out there that can do some parts of what's considered top notch filmmaking right. So all I'm saying is that I KNOW they can do better than this, right now, all I see is an exhausted sprinter trying to catch up at least with the majority of the crowd.