Forbidden Dreams

Ota Pavel was a truly great writer and storyteller and his book reads itself, but Karel Kachyna’s adaptation is so brilliant that the quality of the book is not quite the winner for me in this case. The humorous side is perfectly combined with the tragic one, the story grabbed me by the hand and never let me go, and for his performance I would give Karel Heřmánek a ticket to Hollywood and Steven Spielberg’s address; he would have elevated the likes of Oscar Schindler to new heights. I don’t know what to say, I laughed, I sympathized, I shuddered, but mostly I felt admiration for everyone in this film, and admiration for Czech filmmaking. (12/02/2011)