Zelary

Directed by Ondrej Trojan (2003) **1/2

Taking place during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Zelary, a Czech/Slovak film, tells the tale of a sophisticated nurse and spy, Eliška (Anna Geislerová) forced to flee to an obscure country village when the Nazis break the spy ring and kill her lover, a local surgeon.

Zelary is a melodrama with a more leisurely pace than most (it has a running time of two and half hours). Before she has to flee the city, Eliška gives blood to a large, pragmatic mountain worker (György Cserhalmi as Joza) brought to the hospital and we intuit that this forebodes a deeper connection between the two; it’s confirmed when Eliška is forced to marry Joza as the only means of survival under the Nazi reign. Will this city-bred woman eventually fall in love with her simple, quiet peasant husband? Place your bets.

Zelary, the name of the village, is peopled with salt-of-the-earth types who could have been more cloying if there weren’t so many deeply flawed individuals, such as the ever-drunk neighbor who beats his kid, Lipka (who has to live in the woods to survive) and attempts to rape Eliška, and the hate-filled schoolmaster who demeans and belittles Lipka. Counterbalancing them are the Priest who lies in order to marry Eliška and Josa; a wide-eyed young girl who speaks truth to power; and a friendly aging midwife. Zelary is Thomas Hardy, light.

Based on two autobiographical books by novelist Kveta Legátová, Zelary is in perhaps too many ways straightforward and somewhat predictable. It’s also a structurally flawed screenplay which may cause head-scratching as to what the through-line is. After the tension between Eliška and Josa is resolved (will they fall in love?), the focus of the film switches to the various townsfolk, with Nazi threats nearly absent. When the war is over and Russian troops wander in, the film takes another turn, as victorious, drunken soldiers become rapists. There’s little in Zelary that’s inherently uninteresting, but as the film descends into episodic memoir, the tightly plotted story promised at the start of the film dissipates.

Produced by Barrandov Studios, a company which dates back to the ’30s (and which is frequently used by Hollywood producers), Zelary looks sumptuous, with wide-angled vistas and attention to period detail that brings to mind the epics of David Lean. If you’re in the mood for a slow, pastoral take on farm life in Czechoslovakia during WWII, give Zelary a look. I otherwise can’t recommend it.

Zelary received a 2004 Academy Award nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The Sony DVD features a making-of feature and a “Zelary cast goes to the Oscars” short, neither very compelling.

—Michael R. Neno, 2017 October 17