A Lesson of Geography

Rating: 5/10 (16 March 2006)

Dear fellow Slovaks that feel offended with allegedly revolting image of their beloved native country portrayed in the movie could have calmed down. I dare to refer to some of the postings at Hostel discussion boards.
SOME SPOILERS: What a delight to find out that those sophisticated entertainment for wealthy foreigners comes from nowhere else than homeland of ballet, vodka, caviar and Kalashnikov! Just have a brief look at the e-mail address at the 'Elite Hunting' card. (Incidentally, my favorite Sony Wega that vividly and truthfully reproduced the colors of this movie was made in Slovakia.)
Everything has it's price. Perhaps Russians are the easiest prey in that neck of the woods, while Americans are hard to find, if American meat is five times as much expensive as that of the Russian - it's a market economy... Or, maybe, Russians are simply more primitive. And the excitement of torturing and killing a Russian for mere five grands is nothing compared to the sky high pleasure of dismembering a more complex live organism. It would be ridiculous if Russians would feel somehow abused and may protest against the inadequate price-list.
The chick that lured the boys into the trap, Natalya, is Russian. Her blond girlfriend Svetlana is Czech. Besides, no one would judge the entire country by a couple of hookers. The bad guys are Dutch, German and American. Oh, I've just forgotten hideous Takashi Miike (nice cameo!). Contrary to them the majority of the locals look friendly and intelligent. I guess maybe the bunch of zombie-like kids that kill for a chewing gum is something slightly over the top - but anyway they did a good job in one of the final sequences.
The rotten renegade cops that law-abiding individuals must be afraid of are abound elsewhere in the world - otherwise internal investigation officers could have got the hook.
Most of the cars exhibited in Hostel are good old Russian Volgas. I understand that the country is now flooded with major European brands of vehicles, and vintage Russian make in a reformed East European economy may look something extraneous and ancient. But at least this is a part of the Soviet legacy that should hardly be embarrassed of.
The movie is shot on location in neighboring Czech Republic (frankly I found most of the scenery to be quite beautiful and not appalling at all, irrespective of either it stands for the particular country or not).
I believe there's absolutely none of country specific features reproduced in the film that could have shattered respectable image of Slovakia, especially considering that this is just a movie. Moreover the film-goers shouldn't expect that foreign filmmakers could do a feature about their country better than their local producers.
As to the film itself, unfortunately, the concept about a kind of human safari wasn't extremely original as the producers claim.
At least I found Roth's earlier effort, Cabin Fever, to be more chilling, effective and surprising.