Musíme si pomáhat

This film is a beautiful and haunting picture of Czech life during WWII. Particularly, non-Jewish, non-Nazi Czechs, although each of those groups are represented as well. The last few scenes of the film are ultimately a relief because, in light of the film's title 'Divided We Fall', the viewer half expects a pro-Communist forces message. This is not the case. The united Communist army representatives are shown as just as cruel to Nazis and Nazi sympathizers (even those who concede without a fight) as the Nazis were to... well ... nearly everybody. The title is, mercifully, not a political agenda, but a call for love and forgiveness - in this case, within what was once a peaceful and functional Czech community before Nazi occupation.

My only qualm with this film regards the way that the camerawork becomes unsteady and at a lower framerate whenever there is potential fatal danger to any of the characters. I appreciate that when we apprehend a very real danger, our perspective does indeed change to a nearly surreal state. However this cannot translate into the cinematic device employed in this movie, simply because the technique is used not only for when one person becomes scared, nor even only for when any character is scared, but when the AUDIENCE becomes sympathetically scared for the character(s), whether the character(s) knows what's happening or not! Thus, it seems pointless - or at least, it doesn't give the audience enough credit to know when they should be scared simply by how the story is unfolding. Personally, I'd rather a filmmaker flatter my intelligence by assuming I know the score, rather than point it out to me every time.

That qualm, however, is not as dire as it seems. Throughout, the movie retains its gracefulness, its fine pacing, and its delicate and unnerving balance between serene and severe, poetic and panicked. As an example, for a moment the picnic scene seems quiet, peaceful, lyrical, until we are suddenly (but without being hit over the head by daunting music or fast editing to drive the point home) reminded of the sickeningly casual scrupulousness of so many Nazis.

The movie is also extremely well acted. In one scene, Josef, Horst, and a high-ranking Nazi show up suddenly to the apartment which is central to the film. David, caught out of the pantry, dives under the covers with Marie to hide. Horst, probably a little drunk already, comes in and hits on the supposedly bedridden Marie, whose face succesfully commingles her disgust with Horst, her fear of being found out, and her discomfort (physical and ideological) with David lying right on top of her. This is immediately followed by another fine piece of acting when Josef steps into the doorframe, sees what's going on (i.e. that David is under the sheets), and goes from shock to fear to panic to decisiveness, suddenly breaking into a manic drunken look and dancing foolishly and singing a 'funny' Nazi song. His pretended drunken revelry is a ploy to distract Horst and the Nazi officer. Here, as many other times in the film, the line between life and death is suddenly, palpably a hair's breadth away - and yet without any guns fired, pointed, or even drawn. Another interesting theme throughout the film is the lies and deceptions by the good people in order to save one another, contrasted with the situations in which someone's honesty would condemn his friends. Sometimes it's ok, even necessary, to lie.

I don't want to spoil anything, but the ending of the film is a little odd. Yet I wholly embrace it. Film is an art form, and so it is allowed to employ a non-literal ending for the purpose of meaning. If you are put off by such unreal scenes, I suggest you watch less Jerry Bruckheimer movies from now on.

This film is, overall, a masterpiece. It is visually beautiful, has a moving and well-crafted story, and is certainly the best Europe-during-the-holocaust film that never shows you a ghetto or a concentration camp. The other best Europe-during-the-holocaust films, which do show these places, are Schindler's List, Life is Beautiful, and The Pianist. I recognize that Divided We Fall is much harder to find for sale or rent than these other 3 films, but really, everyone should watch all 4. I firmly believe that the more well-made films you see on the subject, the more understanding you'll have, and with these four combined, you get four different flavours: Czech, Polish, Italian, and American (about a German, among others). Divided We Fall is not to be missed.

I thought this was the original title as well, but even if it's not it's a great film. The acting is just great, these actors are all strangers to me and perhaps that helped, I don't know, but I loved each and every one of them, even the jerks. The script is top notch and the camera and music all conspire to make this one of the best films of the 'empty calorie' summer of 2001. It's a good sign for Czech films, this director is one to watch. I can't wait for his next film. Go and see this movie! ..

Just saw this on BBC4 - extraordinary - it's the kind of achievement American (and British) screenwriters should practice for years to emulate. Robert McKee, see this film!

The writing, directing and acting are all superb, and in the service of a supremely human story beautifully constructed around timeless epic themes of man's inhumanity to man, war, and all the other big stuff. To separate these from the movie itself, though, would be to do it a great disservice.

The mix of laugh-out-loud humour, gripping thriller, and finally a well-earned and unsentimental tear-jerker of a last 15 minutes is the zenith of a movie-watching experience. "Divided We Fall" is very funny from the outset, but it doesn't take long for the filmmakers to skilfully tighten the knot with sudden character twists and brilliant writing early on. Once we're immersed in 1943 Czechoslovakia, we're not only rooting for the lead character Cizek, played immaculately by Bolek Polivka - a winning combination of contemporary earthy Brit character actor Philip Jackson and 20th century comedy genius Alistair Sim - we're feeling like we're there with him.

He and the ensemble cast play every beat of the story just right (there's even one moment midway through where the audience are maybe allowed to get a bit too far ahead of Polivka's character, but it's remedied by the performances). The visual flourishes, especially the effects of switching between film speeds and using a DV tape look, all enhance the narrative without intruding into it, and thus heighten the tension at unexpected moments. The costume and make-up designs bring the human stories to warm life; and set against war-torn 1940s backdrops, the production design could hardly go wrong.

A great treatment of a much depicted time and narrative that manages to make events feel fresh, real, scary, funny, dramatic, ultimately hugely moving...somehow many more people should get a chance, and be urged, to see this film.

In Krszysztof Kieslowski's brilliant film, 'No End', set in post-Solidarity Poland, a lawyer tells a dissident union leader: 'You decided to collaborate the day you decided not to throw yourself under a tank.' Which is of course true, but often forgotten in our easy condemnation of those who picked the wrong side in past wars. To have been a baker in occupied France, say, and to have continued with your work, draws no retrospective judgement; to have been a senior civil servant is to earn today the label of a Nazi. Of course, Nazism was almost uniquely repugnant, and yet could have been stopped had no-one collaborated; but those of us lucky enough not to have lived through the war need also be careful about setting up standards that we ourselves could not have met. 'Divided We Fall' is a Czech drama set in World War Two, whose strength is it's honesty is portraying both the courage of ordinary people, and also the limits of that courage. It's heroes become reluctant enemies of the Germans when they shelter a Jewish fugitive for initially just one night; and are then forced to follow through on their actions. Director Jan Hrebejk is rather too keen on the peculiar trick of shooting film with a reduced refresh rate, rather like an old silent movie, so that his characters' movements appear odd and jerky: I'm not too sure what this is supposed to achieve. The gloomy nature of the central protagonist also leads to a lack of tonal variation in the piece, he is terminally depressed even before he gets into trouble, and this pervasive mood of hopelessness takes some of the zing out of what at times feels a slow-paced movie. But the merit of this work is it's portrayal of real human beings, doing both good and bad things, for mixed motives, at times of intense pressure. 'Divided We Fall' might not be a great film; but it is a true one.

This 2000 masterpiece is a creed apart from the usual holocaust narratives . Amazing to see that World War II is still a fertile ground for brilliant creations like this one . A rare mix of drama , realism , comedy , suspense and what all ? A wonderful message on how as flesh and blood humans good , evil and the undecided all are interdependent on each other , how we need to realise that there isn't anything pure evil or pure good . 1940 Czech town where the patriot , collaborator ( with the occupying Nazis ) , the hunted , the humanist all coexist and live out the everyday drama of survival against all odds .Finely wrapped in heart wrenching comedy this sure belongs to the league of true classics .Wonderful and brilliant use of symbolism , the strung out pork and the entrapped potential meat Jew , the perambulator cross over at the ghost town street with the hand cart carrying the post conflict rubble ... brilliant strokes of mastery !! A must watch for cinephiles and non cinephiles ... do not ever miss this one !!!