Protector

I can't say that I didn't like the movie outright, but I also can't say that I was enthusiastic about it in any way. In my opinion, it is a purely average film, and, due to the lack of funds and perhaps even the filmmaker's creativity, it feels more like a TV film. The theme of the Protectorate and the motive of the Jewish genocide contribute to this, but these concepts have been used many times in the past, and often better. All that is left for me is to sigh - if this is one of the most acclaimed post-November films and according to many enthusiastic comments even one of the peaks, then the state of Czech cinema is even more serious than I thought. Jana Plodková is interesting and unfamiliar, and her stylization of the character of a First Republic film star is quite convincing, but that is not enough for a great film experience. Overall impression: 60%. (14/05/2011)

The best Czech film I've seen in years - and not just in the movie theater. There is not a single needless scene, and the direction, the superbly stylized and deliberately color-poor cinematography and the music complement each other perfectly. All this with likeable actors who really know how to act. I applaud and I will definitely go see it again. I hope as many people as possible do the same - this film shouldn't get lost. I give it a big chance at foreign festivals. (23/09/2009)

Proof that excuses for anything are just the alibis of filmmakers who won't admit their own inability to make a good film. Protector is European filmmaking in every sense. After it was over I was still staring silently for half an hour, searching for words. It’s one of those films that fascinates you while you're watching it, but you can't easily go back to it for its emotional impact. (25/04/2010)

Now all we're missing is a movie about laughing beasts, or will next year's movie be about "flies shitting on him"? Who knows? Anyway, I'm sure people will like it if it's technically up to scratch, content-wise without any ideas and message-wise again just a woman’s bust. Protector is said to be a cliché-busting film about life in the First Republic, whilst also being formally innovative, with above-average acting, that it’s daring, etc. The facts are, of course, somewhat different. It takes place between 1938 and 1942, and not against the background but right in the midst of the events that culminate in the assassination of the acting Reich Protector. If I am supposed to be amazed by the information presented in a simplified form that people functioning in the official culture of the Second Republic and the Protectorate have sex in their private lives, even cheat, and don't always speak in standard language, I would probably be living in a greenhouse somewhere. What was I told next? A rising movie star wears a wig. Hmm. A projectionist can be a thief, a fetishist, and a junkie. Hmm. The rest? Nothing. Hmm. So what did I have to in fact deal with? The misuse of several rare archival materials that still don't exist in their original form in the general public consciousness, so they can't have a true effect in a feature film. When I also take into account that Jana Plodková can’t speak decently in the film and a large number of supporting roles were given to comedians like Polášek or Budař, I feel sad. Not to mention Ornest's downright awkward moments... Unfortunately, we also have the absolutely unbelievable Sandra Nováková haunting the place and Petra Nesvačilová also does some barking. Sandra doesn't even act, she just shows her chest just like the main protagonist. All the realism of the late 1930s and early 40s is incredibly artificial and as believable as Marek Daniel’s shaved head, whose performance is the only one that comes close to being described as "acting." Still, even in his case, more work on the chosen replicas would not have hurt. I consider the only acceptable performance to be the bright moments that feature Richard Stanke, who also handled speaking German brilliantly. The fictional film Druhý život and its hit "Když zavřu oči," with its central chorus about a rose-colored eye, makes it all even better. (20/06/2010)

Finally, a film that tries to come to terms with the past in a relatively civil manner. What "Lidice" failed to do, this gray film succeeds in, as if joy were missing here. It's almost as if there were no color, plus there are great details that the film focuses on and that enhance the era, place, and event. Just one ordinary wheel and what it can do. Occasionally, interesting filmmaking techniques are used, which only make the film even more intriguing, capable of taking the past seriously and yet differently, but not badly. (23/12/2013)