Babicka

There are movies, you can watch and relax, no special thoughts needed. And there are movies, you can watch, but they will not work properly without your inner contribution. Babicka is one of Czechoslovak classics. Not influenced enough by 70's regime to loose its timelessness, so it works nowadays as well as it worked decades ago. Based on novel by Czech lady-writer Bozena Nemcova that helped to spread Czech language and culture trough all nation-suffering population back in 1850's will give you plenty of bitter-sweet moments today. Great piece for everyone, who feels the value of things that passed, never to return. Watch it with patience, like listening to the classical music, and find your own way to handle this motion picture.

I read the book and enjoyed it. However, this film adaptation, in spite of good actors, okay costumes, and being filmed in what appears to be the actual locations (Stare belidlo, etc) is not good. This is a story very dear to the hearts of the Czech nation and it was simply not done justice. Running time is wasted with artsy shots that are way too long and add nothing to the movie and cause viewer's boredom. While the book was fast paced and interesting, at times even suspenseful (Viktorka's story), this movie is so slow-paced that watching the entire movie at once is almost painful. I clearly do not like this director's style. I saw one other movie he directed - The Third Prince - and that was likewise downright awful. I wish I could give this a better rating, but it really is not worth watching. Comparable to "The New World" directed by Terrence Malick (2005).