JIFF: Shadow Country

“Uncomfortably timely… Bodhan Slama looks at the lethal effects of nationalism in this accomplished film set in the aftermath of the Second World War.” - Screendaily

This striking epic, handsomely lensed in black and white, is a unique account of life in a Czech-Austrian border village from the 1930s-1950s, which saw a community sacrificed to political ideology. As the rise of Nazism threatens the small town of Schwarzwald, its Austrian and Czechoslovakian villagers must choose their allegiances, a decision which, for some, will have dire consequences.

While Karel Veber signs himself and the rest of his family as German, his wife Marie sticks to her Czech heritage and refuses to sign. When Josef Pachl is arrested for his resistance activity, he later returns to the village post war with a vengeance to settle. The divided small town as an allegory for the nation at large shows how violence is never the answer in this unforgettable timely war drama.

Winner of the 2020 Czech Film Critics' Awards.

Rating

E

Language

Czech, German (English subtitles)

Cast

Magdaléna Borová, Stanislav Majer

Director

Bohdan Sláma