Post by london777 on Jan 21, 2019 4:12:24 GMT
I have just watched one of the best films I have seen in the past twelve months. It is not about mail order brides or kidnapped brides but it is on a related theme, and I cannot see it fitting into any other topic, so I hope my friend pimpin will allow me to mention it here.
Zelary (2003) dir: Ondrej Trojan is set during WWII. It is in three acts which seem to belong to different genres.
The first act is set in Bratislava, Slovakia (though actually filmed in Brno, Czech Republic). Zelary is a student doctor. She and her doctor lover are active in the resistance to German occupation. He is caught and executed. She is whisked away to a remote and backward village for her own protection. As this elegant and somewhat fastidious urban creature would stick out like a sore thumb, she is ordered to marry a smelly peasant in the resistance as cover.
I like Resistance movies but I always think "I could never do that. My legs (and bowels) would give way at the first challenge". I have never seen an agent's terror so well depicted. Of course, this makes their bravery all the more admirable.
The second and much longer middle act shows how she "goes native", is accepted in the community, and valued for her medical skills, while her relationship with her protector evolves. She also experiences spiritual healing from the natural life and beautiful countryside on which the war does not directly impinge.
The third act shows what happens when the village is liberated by the Red Army. It is not all jolly moonshine drinking and dancing.
The Slovakian government and the dominant Catholic Church were willing collaborators with the Nazis during the war. This is not really emphasized in the movie but it does help to explain the events in the final act. It also explains why the protagonists have somewhat more freedom of movement than would be the case in a similar story set in, say, Poland or Belarus.
The highest praise I can give a movie is that it reminds me of one of my favorite English novelists. (For example, I called the underworld in "Night and the City" "Dickensian"). The scenes of village life in Zelary remind me of Thomas Hardy: the rustic wedding with its beautiful folk music, the village idlers and idiots, and the "Wise Woman" with her herbal cures. There is also a touch of "Wuthering Heights" and "The Secret Garden" in the person of the village outcast, a boy who lives wild and communes with the animals. The film was shot in real time over the course of a year and this perhaps added to its beautiful photography.
Zelary (2003) dir: Ondrej Trojan is set during WWII. It is in three acts which seem to belong to different genres.
The first act is set in Bratislava, Slovakia (though actually filmed in Brno, Czech Republic). Zelary is a student doctor. She and her doctor lover are active in the resistance to German occupation. He is caught and executed. She is whisked away to a remote and backward village for her own protection. As this elegant and somewhat fastidious urban creature would stick out like a sore thumb, she is ordered to marry a smelly peasant in the resistance as cover.
I like Resistance movies but I always think "I could never do that. My legs (and bowels) would give way at the first challenge". I have never seen an agent's terror so well depicted. Of course, this makes their bravery all the more admirable.
The second and much longer middle act shows how she "goes native", is accepted in the community, and valued for her medical skills, while her relationship with her protector evolves. She also experiences spiritual healing from the natural life and beautiful countryside on which the war does not directly impinge.
The third act shows what happens when the village is liberated by the Red Army. It is not all jolly moonshine drinking and dancing.
The Slovakian government and the dominant Catholic Church were willing collaborators with the Nazis during the war. This is not really emphasized in the movie but it does help to explain the events in the final act. It also explains why the protagonists have somewhat more freedom of movement than would be the case in a similar story set in, say, Poland or Belarus.
The highest praise I can give a movie is that it reminds me of one of my favorite English novelists. (For example, I called the underworld in "Night and the City" "Dickensian"). The scenes of village life in Zelary remind me of Thomas Hardy: the rustic wedding with its beautiful folk music, the village idlers and idiots, and the "Wise Woman" with her herbal cures. There is also a touch of "Wuthering Heights" and "The Secret Garden" in the person of the village outcast, a boy who lives wild and communes with the animals. The film was shot in real time over the course of a year and this perhaps added to its beautiful photography.