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The way of the eagle is to raise two chicks. The stronger is destined always to throw the weaker from the nest. Man also has his ways, often to hurt those closest to him. Lukas suffers at the hands of a father who has withdrawn since the loss of his wife. Killed whilst rescuing the infant Lukas, the boy now carries the burden of her death. Our eagle's story begins in the nest. The first-born chick pushes his weaker brother to a certain death on the forest floor. But fate intervenes and the chick is found by Lukas. Naming him Abel, Lukas cares for the creature in secret, finding a love and companionship denied to him at home. But when the day comes to release Abel back into the wild, will Lukas find his own release into a new life? (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (3)
If Přátelé Zeleného údolí had been given a budget that the gamekeeper Horyn could only dream of, it would probably have turned out quite similarly to Brothers of the Wind - as a thoroughly simple story full of absolutely breathtaking shots of nature. People are (as charismatic as Jean Reno is, and he is!) irrelevant, so to speak, the animals and their natural environment play the main role. That's why I was always a bit disappointed when, instead of the eagle's worries, the boy's worries started to be addressed.
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An insidiously evil trick got me watching a lame nature documentary instead of a family movie from the mountains, with a pseudo-narrative so incredibly futilely written that I gouged my eye out a few times out of boredom and put it back in again. I admit that my dislike of nature documentaries is purely personal (nothing against them, I just don't enjoy them so I don't seek them out) and thus I tried at least to get myself interested in the plot, but it simply isn’t possible. The film comes back to it once every twenty minutes or so, creating some 100-times-seen storyline about a little boy with trauma, a bitter father, and a wise mountain man, the individual sequences are absolutely horribly written and shot, and the disastrous postsynchronization only complete the final picture of doom. Actually, no: doom can be entertaining; this never had that potential. The scenery is beautiful, the eagle is cool, the movie is a crime.
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At first glance, it's a pretty ordinary film, which is really just about a boy finding his pet in the wilderness. However, that pet is an eagle, and the story is sometimes presented almost like a documentary, with some camera sweeps over the mountains being absolutely captivating. I also have to mention the work with animals. It's incredible by today's standards.
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