Romeo, Julie a tma

Set during World War II in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia, a young man in Prague shelters a Jewish girl, knowing that in trying to save her life he is putting the lives of all those around him in grave danger. Events are complicated further with the assassination of Reinhardt Heydrich the top Nazi leader who ruled over Czechoslovakia with an iron fist. His killing leads to brutal reprisals by the Nazi authorities meaning that Jews and those who shelter them find themselves under even greater scrutiny and peril.

I was surprised to learn after watching this one that it was made some time before the Czech New Wave began. It is clearly a very forward-looking and bold film for its time. Completely convincing and realistic at all times, it is in essence a doomed love story with the backdrop of the European Holocaust hovering darkly always in the background. As such it is quite a depressing story but to tell it any other way would be to ignore the horror of the facts of the time. Despite the historic events involving the Heydrich assassination, the approach taken to the narrative is a highly personal one, with the events rarely going beyond the apartment block in which the characters live. Acting is strong across the board, with Daniela Smutná as the girl and Ivan Mistrík as the boy who tries to help her, both especially good. This is a strong film in many ways and one of the chief ones being that you understand why everyone acts the way they do, even if certain characters act despicably. But fear and oppression has a way of bringing out the bad in many of us, but also the good in some too. This highly impressive war drama should be more widely seen.