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I came out of "Dark Blue World" feeling (sigh) 'so sad' yet it was definitely a film needed to be made, and it's truly well done from Czech Republic. It's entertaining in spite of the 'sad' premise. It is full of feelings, the bonding and undeniably true friendship between the two lead characters - one mature lieutenant pilot (Ondrej Vetchý as Franta) and the young & ever-so-eager budding pilot (Krystof Hádek as Karel), the inevitable love triangle, and the now and then reminders of the grim prison situations in Czechoslovakia in the '50s. It's all in one film put together, by the father screenwriter and son director team Zdenek and Jan Sverák (previous achievement being the lovable "Kolya").
It's not as long as "East-West" (French "Est-Ouest") 1999, which was heart wrenching, multi-layered story about a returning Russian doctor and French wife's ill-fates after WWII in Russia. The plot of "Tmavomodrý svet" (title in Czech) is quite straightforward and has sprinkles of light humor. Music, songs of WWII England sung in Czech, modest special effects of pilots and air crafts in the sky - not elaborate like Hollywood - there's no need to be bing, bang, boom all the time when showing air battle scenes. The sadness was explained up front in the beginning (two paragraphs in English) and wrap up with follow up paragraphs. The film is not totally subtitled, only when translating the Czech conversations - the rest are in English, be it very British or in Czech accents. (So it's a foreign film with English language and includes British actors.)
The three lead performances, especially of the two Czech pilots, were wonderfully delivered. There are nuances between the two of them, even though it's the steadily mature vs. the eagerly young. I always appreciate Tara Fitzgerald: yes, there's "Brassed Off" 1996 opposite Ewan McGregor and Pete Postlethwaite; remembered her from "Hear My Song" 1991 opposite Adrian Dunbar and Ned Beatty; opposite Hugh Grant in "Sirens" 1994 and "The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain" 1995, besides her appearances in PBS Masterpiece Theatre mini-series.
'So sad' - the fact that heroes defending one's country can be so ill fatedly treated and for so long (40 years). Thank goodness for worthwhile memories and the imprints of friendship unforgettable. Hence the pause for a ray of sunshine through a stain glass window (ironic or coincidental that it's of a church where the hard labor took place) - symbolic of hope, never give up
Other recent films that have stories needed to be told: "Kandahar" (with Nelofer Pazira as Nafas the Canadian from Afghanistan taking a journey to Kandahar with a personal 'mission' in mind) more than meets the eye behind a burqa by Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf. "Everything Put Together" (with Radha Mitchell as a new mother facing SID - sudden infant death) insightful film by Swiss director Marc Forster, and his much talked about controversial film "Monster's Ball" (I've yet to catch) with Halle Berry, Billy Bob Thornton and Peter Boyle. See the films without prior expectations or comparisons to films before. Just see it.


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