the end of the road
Brilliant film! Czech director Frantisek Vlacil is known for little dialogue, masterful use of music, beautiful, haunting imagery, and complex emotions. He has the mind of a poet, and his films certainly reflect that. Many of them depict the nation's past. "Adelheid" is based on a historical novel of the same name by an equally outstanding Czech novelist Vladimir Korner. It takes place in the Sudetenland after the liberation of Czechoslovakia in May 1945. Czech Lieutenant Viktor Chotovicky arrives in a small village after serving with the RAF in Great Britain. His task is to make an inventory of German war criminal Alfred Heidenmann's property. Viktor (played by darkly attractive and talented Petr Cepek) follows his orders, but what he really wants is peace and solitude, "to be cut off from the world" after the trauma of war. The local police chief, Inspector Hejna, is a hard-line Czech man with his feet firmly planted on the ground. Rather crude on the outside, but well-meaning on the inside, he is determined to turn his little community filled with post-war chaos, violence, and Czech hostility toward Germans into an orderly "village like any other." He assigns Viktor a servant from a nearby German camp who turns out to be Adelheid Heidemann, the arrested war criminal's daughter (played by hauntingly beautiful Emma Cerna). Viktor speaks Czech, Adelheid German. The language conflict plays a crucial role in the film, leading to incredible visualization of growing tension between Viktor and Adelheid. Little is said, but the way they look at each other and interact without words speaks volumes. Superior acting by Cepek and Cerna! It soon becomes obvious that Viktor craves Adelheid's closeness (far beyond mere sexual attraction). Adelheid - his virtual prisoner - is more cautious in showing her feelings. "A true German woman," Inspector Hejna says, "keeps up with men, no matter what!" As the relationship between Viktor and Adelheid develops, it becomes clear that they have to choose between loyalty to their families (nations) or to each other. Viktor is a man strong enough to stand by the woman he loves, no matter how much pain it may inflict upon him (by her as well). True to her form, Adelheid makes the final decision for both of them in the end of the film. To say more would be giving the film plot away. Let me just say that the film is superior art in every way. Vlacil never falters, even his selection of music by J.S. Bach and J. Strauss is devastatingly powerful. There are so many things to look for in the film, e.g. windows and doors reflecting the main characters' various emotional states. The only setback of "Adelheid" has nothing to do with the original Czech film, but with the English subtitles. Question marks are missing (so you better listen to the foreign intonation which is less pronounced than in English) and far too many English lines offer a bland, generic version of the colorful, colloquial Czech. The latter affects especially Inspector Hejna`s lines, e.g. his frustration in "We got shit!" (referring to a lack of medals for local war heroes) is smoothed into "We got nothing." Haunting, timeless film!
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