Identity Card

Reviewing Identity Card consists of two important aspects for me. The first - the form - feels quite average to me, whether in terms of the acting performances or the fragmented screenplay and level of humor used. I don't share the enthusiasm of many regarding the performance of the group of boys in the main roles, as they lack charisma and acting talent. While Věra Plívová Šimková was not a star director, her films worked thanks to her talent for selecting child actors, whom she turned into stars one after another. The casting of the actors in adult roles is also good. I wouldn't label Geislerová a bad actress, but her stardom is more related to her appearance and media presence rather than top-notch character acting. Identity Card attempts to be a type of nostalgic tragicomedy, but that type of humor seems more forced and simplistic to me. So-called real socialism can be a target of humor at various levels; it was full of absurdity, hypocrisy, and stupidity, but not the kind where a high-ranking police officer is illiterate, as Ondřej Trojan tries to portray in his film. This and other aspects didn't work for me. The second content aspect of the film is more complex and deserves a deeper analysis. I classify Identity Card as one of those unpleasant pretentious films that pretend to be something they're not. With all due respect to the many reviews praising how well the film captures the lifestyle and atmosphere of the 70s, life simply wasn't like that. Czechoslovakia in the 70s was not a brutal dictatorship that relied on dances and Soviet soldiers. Soviet soldiers stayed in their barracks and for various reasons were prevented from interacting with locals and the local culture. It's about what kind of support the system actually had and whether there were really 15 million suffering victims, as the enthusiastic citizens claimed after November 1989. The system of normalized Czechoslovakia didn't rely on batons, as it may seem to the viewers of Identity Card, as they were rarely used. Instead, it relied on pragmatism, pretending, minor benefits, conformism, and spinelessness. Millions of people deeply despised the system, its highest representatives, and official ideology but willingly took advantage of all the benefits that the regime brought and provided. Whether it was the poor work ethic, various forms of "privatization of property in socialist ownership," the system of favors, acquaintances, clientelism, or the undeniable social benefits in the form of the so-called "goulash socialism," etc. There was a stench here, but also calmness. One had the certainty that they would still be where they were 20 years later and that their life would be stabilized. If Czechoslovakia had been open to the world, it would have had to deal with the decline of many industries, closing mines, and coping with oil crises, etc., several years earlier. At the same time, the system provided one huge advantage - the absence of personal responsibility. Which other country can say that its leaders and institutions were the target of the cruelest jokes and yet enjoyed such tranquility without strikes, demonstrations, various civic protests, etc.? Czechoslovakia represented one of the most stable soft dictatorships of its kind. But capturing the mediocrity, hypocrisy, pettiness, and spinelessness is a bit harder than showing beaten-up youth at a concert. In the 19th century, bearded intellectuals imagined that future generations would learn about their past through museums. In the 21st century, we know that museums are just nice monuments that few people care about, and the majority gain knowledge about history through films. Future generations will consider Identity Card to be a more or less truthful testimony of that time, even though there are only a few films that I would consider more misleading. This film, in particular, does not represent an attempt to come to terms with the past. It doesn't analyze the system, whose foundation, according to Trojan and Šabach, consists simply of police officers or creatures that are clearly identifiable and isolated. In reality, and paradoxically, the biggest victims of normalization were the holders of Communist Party membership cards who were crossed out and expelled from their positions and jobs during the purges. The overwhelming majority ended up in manual labor positions, while non-party members often benefited significantly from the system and took advantage of, for example, scarce goods to enrich themselves. My overall impression of this distorted view of Czech history is 40%. (06/20/2011) (less) (more)