Ztraceni v Mnichově

“Czechs stink”, “Beneš is a fool!” It's with outbursts such as these that the former French Prime Minister's feathered friend provokes a sense of outrage that almost boils over into a diplomatic crisis between France and the Czech Republic. Behind the scenes there are also tensions between Czechs and the French, giving rise to age-old prejudice. Time and again the absurd occurs; the leading actor develops an allergy to the Munich Agreement, prompting the director to take a closer look at the events of almost eighty years ago and challenge the stereotypes and myths that have persisted through the ages and are now threatening to bring his film project to a premature end.

Petr Zelenka skillfully juggles several narratives, the result an original and pleasantly unpredictable approach to the complex issue of how age-old stereotypes of national character influence our perceptions of the past, proving himself in the process to be a master of high-brow entertainment. CF