Melde gehorsamst

With a Eastern European and 1950's cinema challenges currently taking place on ICM,I decided to cross the two by looking for Czech flicks from the 50's I had waiting for a viewing. Whilst I've not seen the first film in this series,I decided to hand my report in.

View on the film:

One of the few Czech films from this era to be in colour, writer/director Karel Stekly & Jan Roth fittingly give the final film in the series a blustering bright splash, in the crisp uniforms and fading grass on the battlegrounds being chopped down by swish edits. Completing Svejk's war battle, Stekly charges in with extremely grating brash humour, where any satire is run down by the cast obnoxiously shouting each punchline, and each of Svejk comedic face pulls being as irritating for the audience as it is for the soldiers he reports to.

Schweik is a simple-minded man and WWI is about to break out any day now. And, all around town are spies for the Emperor who arrest folks right and left. Additionally, folks are being called up for military service--Schweik gets caught up in both these efforts.

I do hope that other people on IMDb eventually review this film--particularly folks from the Czech republic or who are old enough to remember seeing the film when it debuted. This is because to me today and in the United States, I just didn't get the joke. I know that "I Dutifully Report" (a.k.a. "Good Soldier Schweik") is supposed to be a comedy--the problem is, I didn't find any of it funny. In fact, I kept falling asleep again and again. As for my wife, she kept complaining that the film wasn't funny. So, at least as far as we're concerned, we just didn't enjoy the movie.

I read review of this movie from planktonrules and I have to disagree. It is one of the best old czech comedy, but you have to know history, you have to understand czech jokes based on czech language. You have to know czech actor legends who played in it. You have to know book from Hasek, who create Svejk. Maybe You have to be czech. Its logical that American doesn't see magic of this movie but we all in central europe laugh from start to end. This is one of movies which cannot be filmed again and better. In this time you are not be able to find places of old Prague which are authentic. In this movie Prague looks beautiful. It is many reasons why I like this movie.

My tastes run counter to those of my fellow countrymen, it would seem. I have been watching films from all over the world all my life. At least half of the films I view and review are from other countries. Having said that it is not necessary to have a foreign background to watch this historical comedy. You only need the patience to read the subtitles. A pause button may be helpful.

First thing I must mention is, that I am from Czech Republic and i've read the book, therefore my opinion may be a bit skewed. Despite of it all, I think this movie is brilliant comedy and nicely shows the absurdity of the first world war from perspective of Austria-Hungarian soldier. It shows life as it went on in that period of time and manages to throw in a few jokes for those, who know how it all ended up. Often times it is said, that Švejk is the archetype of every Czech person and even though I'm not sure if I agree, he is the source of comedy and drama in the movie. If you dislike the main character, there's almost no point in watching the movie, but Švejk grew into my heart. He is your guide through these times, and the fact that you don't know, if he is cunning or stupid enforces the comedy. All things considered, it's and amazing historical movie and a solid comedy, with absurdity as it's main topic.