Special Events 2019 / Zánik samoty Berhof / Czechoslovakia, Poland 1983
The war is finally over but the atmosphere is still tense. Ulrika lives in a secluded spot in the mountains near the German border, condemned to coexist with her boorish father after her mother’s death. One day a German nun bursts into the house accompanied by three young Wehrmacht soldiers; she has to get them back home whatever the cost. The drama, which draws together characters variously deformed by circumstance, is compelling for its deliberately restrained direction, masterfully paced suspense, and its evocative depiction of an utterly bleak environment.
World War II may have come to an end but in the Czech-Polish-German border region life is still full of danger. Bands of Nazi guerrilla Werewolves are hiding out in the forest, waiting to get across the frontier into Germany. Along the way they force themselves upon the humble local farms, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake. Based on the novel of the same name, the film’s director avoids the usual period simplification, instead constructing a monumental tragedy of people in critical situations, concentrated into a few days and within the walls of a secluded mountain dwelling. Along with the farmer’s daughter Ulrika, the heroes here are Fear, Despair, Brutality and Destruction, yet ultimately also Mercy, the bringer of hope. The film’s sombre atmosphere is heightened by Smutný’s expressive lens and a mesmeric score.
Zdena Škapová
98 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Jiří Svoboda
/ Screenplay Vladimír Körner
/ Dir. of Photography Vladimír Smutný
/ Music Jozef Revallo
/ Editor Josef Valušiak
/ Art Director Bogdan Mozer, Boris Moravec
/ Producer Petr Čapek, Urszula Orczykowska
/ Production Filmové studio Barrandov, PRF Zespoły Filmowe – Zespoół “Kadr”
/ Cast Ladislav Křiváček, Jana Brejchová, Marek Probosz, Zbigniew Suszyński, Evelyna Steimarová, Milan Kňažko, Petronela Vančíková
/ Sales Národní filmový archiv
Jiří Svoboda (b. 1945, Kladno, Czechoslovakia) Selected filmography: A Motive for Murder (1974), Girl with a Shell (1980), The End of Berhof (1983), Scalpel, Please (1985), The Damned House of Hajn (1988), Family Matters (1990), The New Breed (2005), Beauty and the Beast 1950 (2010, TV film), Jan Hus (2015, TV film), Rašín (2018, TV film)
Národní filmový archiv
Závišova 5, 140 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
E-mail: [email protected]
Tomáš Žůrek
Distributor, Sales Agent
Vladimír Smutný
Director of Photography
Vladimír Körner
Screenwriter
Jiří Svoboda
Film Director
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