State of Emergency

Karel is a reporter who arrives secretly in Prague from the Middle East to catch his girlfriend in infidelity, just when a civil war breaks out in the Middle East city of Kambur, and he's supposed to be right there. Now he's got to broadcast from the kitchen, lie to his listeners and still sort things out with his girlfriend. Unfortunately, instead of a smart satire, this ends up being a folksy comedy in which the characters do whatever they want and their motivations change scene by scene, everyone yells at each other, and it looks like a sitcom from twenty years ago. (17/10/2024)

A pathologically jealous foreign correspondent for Czech Radio is practically obsessed with the idea that his partner is sleeping with other men. After a year in the Middle East (during which he failed to properly learn English, let alone Arabic), he loses his mind and instead of reporting on an ongoing coup d’état, he rushes back to Prague in order to catch the woman in the act. He then simulates the rest of his reporting from the kitchen, which is interspersed with him brandishing a loaded pistol to threaten his wife, whom he nearly killed with an ashtray in the past, and her colleague, whom he mistakenly believes is her lover and whom he constantly insults because of his Arabic heritage. That’s comedy. After roughly forty minutes, he releases his hostages, the tension decreases and the rest of the narrative, so far confined to a single apartment, morphs into an aimless attempt at satire about disinformation, which the public media helps to create through the filmmakers’ lens and to which even teachers are susceptible (a bizarre subplot with Jaroslav Plesl, who walks around his equally weird mother’s apartment in horror-style scenes and cuts his own abdomen open with a scalpel in order to find an imaginary chip). I don’t have a problem with absurd plots and characters who behave like idiots (see, for example, most of the Coen brothers’ films or Four Lions, which is in a similar vein), but some consistency would be nice. In State of Emergency, the nature of the characters (and the actors’ interpretation of them) changes radically every half-hour (e.g. from a xenophobic psychopath to a tender humanitarian), as does the extent to which events are exaggerated (from completely divorced from reality to reflecting reality) and it becomes unclear as to whether we are supposed to laugh or be terrified because the characters’ lives are really in the balance. The characters’ motivations and the way they treat each other also change repeatedly, as if all of them suffer from a personality disorder. Dramaturgical hell. Because of the cut-aways to Plesl’s teacher character and to the broadcast debate, which is integrated into the main narrative in an equally awkward manner, the film has a less regular rhythm than a man with a serious heart defect. It is rather just a sequence of toothless scenes on various topics that are either pointless or have a point that makes no sense at all in relation to what came before (the management of Czech Radio is apparently okay with the fact that their employees help to spread disinformation that causes people to harm themselves or outright die). Besides the performance of Slezáček (whose head of the broadcast company is simultaneously a genius and a moron for whom a gunshot is sufficient evidence that somebody died) and Dyková, who outshines Vetchý and Haj on multiple levels, there is nothing to praise here. 25% (15/10/2024)

I came across a commentary somewhere that Hřebejka is turning into Troška. I wouldn't see it as dramatically, but I have to admit that after the screening, I definitely didn't feel like in the case of e.g. Beauty in Trouble or Teddy Bear, not to mention older works. I understand that this is probably Hřebejek's reaction to a fairly significant increase in disinformation and the rise of people and pseudopoliticians spreading unbelievable nonsense and sowing it into the minds of trusting Czechs. The film had successful and less successful moments. Ondřej Vetchý plays all roles the same, Tatiana Vilhelmová clearly enjoyed her role, Jordan Haj got unusually much space, and as always, one can rely on Mrs. associate professor Pokorná, she can handle any role. Unfortunately, my impression is growing stronger again, that with Jaroslav Plesl and his presence practically everywhere, it's becoming unbearable. And having Plodková as his partner is not something new either. Overall, a hesitant impression. (25/10/2024)