Alois Nebel

Over the past decade of Czech cinema - or rather its entire post-November existence - I have taken a diplomatically reserved attitude because only a small number of films fall within the average, let alone exceed it in any way. Therefore, even Alois Nebel was not enticing to me, even though it was nominated for an Oscar because the responses to this film were conflicting. However, in the end, it tempted me to go to the movie theater, something I do with Czech films only once a year. Honestly, I do not regret it in any way because Nebel was a very pleasant surprise for me - after a long time, a Czech film has appeared that deliberately builds an atmosphere, has polished form, is not excessive, and affects the viewer, as cinema should, primarily through the image on the movie screen. It would greatly surprise me if it were to win an Oscar, although I believe that in many respects it surpasses famous animated films of the recent past. Waltz with Bashir excels in terms of animation style, and Persepolis excels in terms of visual design. However, Nebel is unfortunate because it takes place on the periphery of world events, and its creative duo does not make its protagonists' motives and actions clear enough to be understood on a global scale, and they are appreciated more by domestic, at most Central European, audiences. Waltz with Bashir dealt with nothing less than war and crimes against humanity, and Persepolis dealt with the globally known religious revolution in Iran. The few percent of the population capable of understanding such themes and who could be considered potential viewers can find their way to those films much easier than to the minimalist, intimate film Alois Nebel. Targeting the community of American academics would mean stretching the story of an entire decade into the past, showing the fates of the heroes of a small train station, the Sudetenland's cession, the expulsion of Czech inhabitants, some partisan sabotage, a Wehrmacht military operation, cattle trains heading to Auschwitz, and later the movement of heavy military equipment on rails during the 1968 occupation, and thus it would need to have a longer, let's say two-hour runtime. The resulting film would certainly be more epic and would contain themes that are understandable even overseas. But even in this version, Alois Nebel is an excellent choice for Czech viewers, even though the authors sometimes take a somewhat looser approach to interpreting recent history. In the autumn of 1989, the Polish border guards were certainly not engaged in frantic pursuit of defectors across the border, and the Polish state security certainly had different concerns and tasks than dealing with saboteurs. The downfall of the Polish regime came somewhat earlier and in a different way than that of the Czechs. Alois Nebel is an intimate yet raw film, where the viewer can often only guess at the dramas playing out behind the bearded faces and shining glances of individual characters. The inaccessible wilderness and dark border forests, flooded rivers and forest giants also play their role. The cast is excellent, with each actor precisely matching the characters' personalities. Overall impression: 95%. (07/01/2012) (less) (more)