Musíme si pomáhat (2000)

Director:

Jan Hrebejk

Writers:

Jan Hrebejk (writer)
Petr Jarchovský (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 March 2000 (Czech Republic)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Tagline:

In a war-torn village, one couple makes the ultimate sacrifice to save another.

Plot:

In Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, a childless couple agree to hide a Jewish friend at great personal risk of discovery and execution.

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Jewish | Czechoslovakia | Collaborator | Holocaust

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 15 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Bolek Polívka	...	Josef Cízek
Anna Sisková	...	Marie Cizková
Csongor Kassai	...	David Wiener
Jaroslav Dusek	...	Horst Prohaska
Martin Huba	...	Dr. Albrecht Kepke
Jirí Pecha	...	Frantisek Simácek
Simona Stasová	...	Libuse Simácková
Vladimir Marek	...	SS Officer (as Vladimír Marek)
Richard Tesarík	...	Captain
Karel Hermánek	...	Captain
Otto Sevcík	...	SS Offcier
Jirí Kodet	...	Dr. Fischer-Rybáf
Petr Knotek
Helena Neuwirthová
Nelly Kocarjan

Also Known As:

Divided We Fall (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some violence and sexual content.

Runtime:

120 min | Argentina:122 min | Canada:123 min | Germany:123 min | UK:122 min | USA:117 min

Country:

Czech Republic

Language:

German | Czech

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:U | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Jaromer, Czech Republic

Company:

Ceská Televize

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

the most underrated movie of the year!

'Life Is Beautiful' is often called a great 'holocaust comedy', but it pales in comparison to this. Life Is Beautiful awkwardly shifts between scenes that are supposed to be funny, and scenes that are supposed to be meaningful or sad or intense, as if Benigni was making a joke, then apologizing for it, then apologizing for being too serious, and making a joke again, and so on. This movie plays it straight pretty much, and everything just works. Particularly the scene with the hands in the bed, and the scene where Josef is taught how to make Nazi-like facial expressions are hilarious. The characterizations are very well done, particularly Horst, the horny scumbag of a Nazi who you get to like in the end. The movie is sometimes surreal. In many scenes the images are very jumpy and distorted, but that shows us what the characters are going through, effectively. The ending is maybe one of the greatest movie endings of all time. It's very surreal, and you can interpret it in many ways. Its abstraction is what helps to make it powerful. When many people create art that has to do with the holocaust, they often go out of their way just to show us that they are making a statement about how horrible the holocaust is, as if theyre afraid that we won't think that otherwise. Even the classic Schindler's List does that, I think. But this movie is a different kind of holocaust movie. It doesn't try hard to show us that the holocaust was bad, but it doesn't neglect how serious the holocaust was, either. The only complains I have about this movie is that it is often slow, and a little confusing at the beginning. It's not a completely perfect movie, but it's definitely a masterpiece of holocaust movies. All the schools that show kids Life Is Beautiful should definitely switch to this.