Dark Blue World

As the Nazis invade Czechoslovakia, commandeering the small Czech air force, Flying Officer Franta,Ondrej Vetchy and his protege, the young talented Karel, Krystof Hadek, escape their homeland, along with many of their colleagues to fly with the RAF. Mistrusted at first by the British the Czech flyers are given silly training exercises and English lessons until eventually, when the need arises, they`re allowed up in the air. Karel is a virgin, he envies his colleagues` ease with women, but it`s not until he`s shot down and takes refuge with Susan, Tara Fitzgerald, that he finds a woman to love. He can`t wait to introduce her to his best friend Franta... What`s terrific about Dark Blue World is the reality of the era, of the situations that director Jan Sverak is able to achieve. He used models to create many of the action scenes, or real trains, in preference to computer generated images and somehow the film benefits immeasurably from that. The performances, particularly from the two male leads, are very impressive. You could see this is as an old fashioned romance but it`s really more about friendship, mateship and loyalty. And the reality of the return of these men to Czechoslovakia after the war where they were imprisoned, supposedly because they`d been tainted by democracy, forms a grim core to the film. Certainly for its first two thirds this is top entertainment.