Those who have seen Edgar Reitz's largely excellent 'Heimat' series of films will recognise certain elements of Czech production 'Krajina ve stínu'/'Shadow Country': the black-and-white filming; the slow panoramic shots of village life; the dramatic, life-changing events set alongside the minutiae of everyday life.
The film follows sixteen years in the life of a village located in the Sudetenland area of central Europe. In 1936 the village is in Czechoslovakia; then comes the Second World War, the Czech mayor is replaced by a German and inhabitants are forced to choose whether they are German or Czech. Following the war, the village is returned to Czechoslovakia, the German mayor is replaced by a Czech Resistance fighter returned from the concentration camps, and those who previously chose German allegiance are expelled from the village - if they are lucky. As well as the multiple mayors, other characters include the farmer whose choice of German identity has dire consequences for him and his Czech wife; the young thug who is imprisoned for rape under the Germans, but when the Czechs take over returns to the village with his government-issue machine gun; and, inevitably, the Jewish family who find their neighbours turning against them. The main theme is how ordinary people react to the actions of the decision-makers: mostly either collaborating, or just keeping their heads down and trying to carry on. There is also a strong secondary theme of the emptiness of victors' justice - the ultimate authority until swept away by the next group of victors.
This engrossing production was one of the best things I saw at the 2020 London Film Festival.
The film follows sixteen years in the life of a village located in the Sudetenland area of central Europe. In 1936 the village is in Czechoslovakia; then comes the Second World War, the Czech mayor is replaced by a German and inhabitants are forced to choose whether they are German or Czech. Following the war, the village is returned to Czechoslovakia, the German mayor is replaced by a Czech Resistance fighter returned from the concentration camps, and those who previously chose German allegiance are expelled from the village - if they are lucky. As well as the multiple mayors, other characters include the farmer whose choice of German identity has dire consequences for him and his Czech wife; the young thug who is imprisoned for rape under the Germans, but when the Czechs take over returns to the village with his government-issue machine gun; and, inevitably, the Jewish family who find their neighbours turning against them. The main theme is how ordinary people react to the actions of the decision-makers: mostly either collaborating, or just keeping their heads down and trying to carry on. There is also a strong secondary theme of the emptiness of victors' justice - the ultimate authority until swept away by the next group of victors.
This engrossing production was one of the best things I saw at the 2020 London Film Festival.
