Little Kingdom

Little Kingdom is a slow burn, a really slow burn, and is more romance than war movie. It is though, watchable.

Peter Magat, the director, holds the reigns firmly in hand, in what aspires to be an art house film. Cinematographer, Juraji Chlpik, captures some beautiful moments. Valgeir Sigurdsson, who was responsible for the music deserves special mention. He almost single handedly, through his musical score, creates a central European ambience.

As will happen in movies Cat, a prostitute, attracts the eye of an evil Bar. There is more tension in this turn of events than in the arrival of the secret police. Though the two events are linked.

Like a Doug McClure western, everyone is impeccably dressed. Not a smattering of mud on the soldiers unforms nor a grease stain on clothes of the factory workers. All sparkle in the most incredulous manner.

The actual little kingdom is the mountain village and the secret police who establish its boundaries. And Bar is the king. It also applies to relationships that develop in the movie. Oh, and the various sexual liasons though these are handled descretely.

Dialogue is minimal which is just as well as several cast members fail to create and convey believable characters. Eva, played by actor Alicia Agneson is, for example not really up to the role. The English accents are very English and one is reminded of a Hammer production.

Much of the 'action' takes place within Bars' munitions factory creating the feeling of a filmed play rather than a film in its own right.

Little Kingdom, is a dramatic talkfest, with just a hint of Days of aOur Lives, rather than an action war movie. As already said, it is watchable, enjoyable even, but not a lot actually happens.

This is a gloriously shabby slice-of-life war-time drama where everybody double-deals, betrays, abandons, kills, or flees. Nobody is innocent. Loyalties seem to shift with the tide (it takes place in 1945 just before the Soviets take Berlin) and you have to pay close attention to the dialog to sift out the collaborators, sycophants, and secret agents from the members of the resistance. Aside from political tensions, there are the usual paltry village jealousies and alliances and nobody really wins in the end. Everybody is painfully human. I found Little Kingdom to be a gripping little story-telling masterpiece. The cinematography and sets are magnificently and Slavicly (if that's a word) dilapidated. It could be a microcosm of a dozen Baltic or Slavic villages during World War ll--no need to get specific!