The Teacher

A decent drama set in the time of totalitarianism with a slightly cynical tone and the chilling message of “they are still among us”. Zuzana Mauréry excels and, of the rest of the cast, the wrestler as the “hero of the people” stands out the most. The film is well written and Hřebejk skilfully directs the subtle, mostly negative character conflicts between the protagonists. However, the exaggerated nature of the film comes across as a bit like a TV movie and doesn’t delve into the wounds of the past with much force. Next to other cases of unscrupulous conduct seen in the given period, this story is actually rather banal. (10/16/2020)

And that’s how it was with everything in those shitty times. All the people were equal, but unfortunately some were more equal than others, so there were so many mental cripples in this country to make you lose your mind. Intimidation, blackmail, dismissal from work for having an opinion or for a bad background check, bootlicking, corruption, you name it. They say we never achieved true communism, but even those decades of Soviet-style socialism screwed up the morale of this nation for generations to come. Hopefully, this country will never repeat similar leftist experiments because we might not be able to handle a second load of such filth. Anyway, the movie was very well made in terms of acting, Hřebejk's minimalist style and great soundtrack. (02/19/2018)

We have to help each other in a Czechoslovakian way. Although I can't shake the feeling that it would work better on the stage, I don't regret the time invested. And I wouldn't regret even more if the Jarchovský/Hřebejk duo once had been backed by a clear storyline. It is not directed as a story from beginning to end, but there are rather individual separate "bachelor's" segments, where every twenty minutes are devoted to one family and then the focus is on another one, without ever returning to the previous ones. It is also a pity that the children are sidelined after a while. The reason why it works so well in spite of the above is that the situation and its solution from the point of view of individual families is played out interestingly, that what Jarchovský spoils in terms of plot, is made up with dialogs and the fact that the performances of unknown cast is amazing. In other words, that is the most sad is the opportunity of the final part was completely wasted. (12/15/2016)

The biggest problem with The Teacher is actually that it exists at all. Not so much because of the Hřebejk/Jarchovský duo's already rather tired dwelling on criticism of normalization, but because of the fact that in an age where the problem is more likely to be a quivering teacher who knows that for every bullet he dodges, he’s approximately three minutes away from a bullet in an MMS from the parents, a theme about the tyranny of parents and children by an educator is somehow unnecessary. Hřebejk has a way with actors, settings, props, and the period stuffiness of normalization. He often uses medium close-ups and close-ups of the warring parties, building a good illusion of a small/big problem. The interior furnishings don't look like clean props worn from a warehouse onto the set, but rather build a good illusion of the prefab hell of trapped families. Unfortunately, every now and then one of the characters turns a page in the script and starts coughing up paper so vehemently that it easily wakes you from the context and starts trending Jarchovský invective, but the whole perverse variation on 12 Angry Men where, instead of a black boy, the men of character are arguing over whether 5.A will have a substitute instead of the old communist Drazdechová, I find it telling of the coldness of the pre-revolutionary society whose cross we still bear. And I find the payoff of the anonymous signing line after you've abstained from the whole decision-making process quite apt and amusing. (05/11/2017)

The Teacher is definitely one of the best films from Czech production (or rather from Czech-Slovak co-production) in 2016. It benefits in particular from the engaging and poignant theme of bullying and exploitation during the communist regime, all set in a school environment that lends itself well to projecting issues of relationships for both children and adults. Another pillar of success was the casting of Zuzana Mauréry in the lead role of teacher Drazděchová, who, as some users have suggested, stands up to comparison with Harry Potter's Dolores Umbridge (the Karlovy Vary award for Best Actress was well deserved in my opinion, although I'm not familiar with the competition). The various interludes between the parents' meeting at the school and what preceded it worked brilliantly, and from the start I was anxiously awaiting the revelation of the "terrible event" for which this meeting was actually held. And the final scene, with the sound of the unmistakable click of heels, got me. All in all, a very well made, written and acted film, which more than once aroused in me a considerable wave of anger and indignation, and made me think about how I would behave in a similar situation. (08/13/2016)