Dark Blue World
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Dark Blue World, also: passion in dark days |
| Original title | Tmavomodrý svět |
| Country of production | Czech Republic , Germany , United Kingdom |
| original language | Czech |
| Publishing year | 2001 |
| length | 112 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jan Svěrák |
| script | Zdeněk Svěrák |
| production |
Eric Abraham Jan Svěrák |
| music | Ondřej Soukup |
| camera | Vladimír Smutný |
| cut | Alois Fišárek |
| occupation | |
| |
Dark Blue World (original title: Tmavomodrý svět ) is a war film from 2001, which was also shown on television under the title Passion in Dark Days . It was directed by Jan Svěrák and Ondřej Vetchý played the leading role .
action
The film story begins in 1939 with the invasion of the German Wehrmacht into Czechoslovakia . The main characters are two Czech pilots - the instructor Franta and Karel, one of his young flight students - who have to sit by and watch their country being occupied. They decide to flee to England and from there to take up the fight against Hitler's Germany .
When they arrive in England, they first have to undergo another humiliating training by the Royal Air Force with other exile Czech pilots . In addition to aviation and combat tactics, it also includes lessons in the English language and has tragicomic features. It was only after some time that the young Czechs were allowed to fight against the German air force , in which the two friends proved their worth.
After a crash, Karel meets the Englishwoman Susan, who lives in a lonely house with some foster children and cares for Karel's injury. He falls in love with Susan, whose husband serves in the Royal Navy but has been missing for a year. Susan returns Karel's affection and they spend the night together.
After Franta got to know Susan, they developed a love affair, which Franta was reluctant to admit because of his friendship with Karel, but whose strength ultimately overrode his remorse. The secret meetings are not hidden from Karel for long. He turns away, deeply disappointed, from his friend, who shortly before saved him from imprisonment and possibly death, when he took him in with a daring maneuver behind enemy lines. In a dogfight, Karel shoots at Franta's machine, who then accuses him of deliberately doing so. Finally, the friendship between the two comes true when Karel saves Franta's life in a crash and dies in the process.
This plot, which is told in flashbacks, is embedded in the story of Franta, who a few years after the Second World War was incarcerated in a Stalinist labor camp . The communists who had come to power had arrested the former freedom fighters because they feared that they would turn against their own government. Released from captivity in the early 1950s, Franta and his comrades were not officially rehabilitated by the Czech state until 1991 - at a time when many of them were already dead.
backgrounds
The film, which cost eight million US dollars and was thus the most expensive Czech film to date, was shot in the Czech Republic, Germany and South Africa.
The film premiered on May 17, 2001 in Czech cinemas, where it became a box-office hit. Dark Blue World launched in the United States on December 28, 2001, grossing over $ 250,000. The film opened in Germany on May 2, 2002.
Director Jan Svěrák is making the untold story of the Czech pilots in exile known to a broad international audience for the first time during communist rule.
Awards
At the presentation of the Czech Lion Film Prize , the film won in the categories of Best Cinematography , Best Director , Best Editing , Best Music as well as the Critics' Prize and the Prize for the film with the highest grossing. Was nominated Dark Blue World in the categories also Best Picture , Best Actor (Ondřej Vetchý), Best Supporting Actor ( Kryštof Hádek ), Best Supporting Actress ( Linda Rybová ), Best Sound , Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design .
The film was the Czech Republic's entry for a nomination at the 2002 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film , but it was neither nominated nor awarded.
criticism
The criticism in Germany was rather mixed. The performance of the actors was consistently praised and the technical quality and choreography of the flight and fight scenes were positively highlighted - in view of the tight international budget. On the other hand, the film was accused of romantic mood-making, nostalgic genre kitsch and poor concentration of action . The interleaving of the different stories was also not convincing: in between there is an atmospherically detrimental fade into the undeserved communist future, which, however, only has an unnecessarily complicating effect, since even aerial warfare and women bullying do not construct a real relationship to the audience.
So filmspiegel.de drew the conclusion: Barely inspiring aviator melancholy at a high technical level.
Web links
- Dark Blue World in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Extensive table of contents
- Extensive criticism, including the production
- Various reviews from the German daily press
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Dark Blue World. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed June 6, 2011 .
- ↑ [1] according to Internet Movie Database , accessed on February 13, 2007.
- ↑ Flemming Schock in filmspiegel.de: The international cast is extraordinary, dominated by without exception capable Czech stars.
- ↑ Nürnberger Zeitung, quoted in nordbayern.de ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : ... from a Czech perspective, with unknown but always convincing actors and beautifully staged pictures.
- ↑ Michael Meier in the Nürnberger Nachrichten, quoted in nordbayern.de ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ): ... in the duels in the sky (which are astonishingly perfectly choreographed for a small budget) ...
- ↑ Flemming Schock in filmspiegel.de: And that the technical side is now the strongest thing about "Dark Blue World" may be enough and point the way.
- ↑ a b c Flemming Schock in filmspiegel.de.
- ↑ Michael Meier in the Nürnberger Nachrichten, quoted in nordbayern.de ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : So clichés everywhere, ...
- ↑ film-dienst 09/2002, quoted in Dirk Jasper FilmLexikon ( memento of October 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ): A largely embellished film that celebrates heroism, friendship and comradeship and uses the (air) war as a foil for a love story . The ideals and virtues mentioned are asserted rather than made comprehensible. , accessed April 4, 2007.
all accesses on February 11, 2007, unless otherwise noted