Wreathed in cigarette smoke and with an eye for the personal, this Czech TV biopic of playwright-turned-president Vaclav Havel is aiming for broad strokes and a broad audience and, by and large, succeeds on its own terms. After a brief prologue, it enters the life of Havel (Viktor Dvorák) in the Warsaw Pact invasion era of 1968, before concentrating on the Seventies, finally taking us to 1989 and the Velvet Revolution that led to him becoming the first post-Communist leader of the Czech Republic. Writer/director Slávek Horák and his co-writer Rudolf Suchánek aren't simply interested in burnishing Havel's legacy, but in getting under the skin of the man who, though he might have had a strong moral sense of duty in some areas, also had plenty of personal flaws, especially when it came to relationships.
If Havel's increasing involvement in the artistic community's resistance against Communism drives the film, there is still considerable weight given.
If Havel's increasing involvement in the artistic community's resistance against Communism drives the film, there is still considerable weight given.
- 10/29/2020
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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