Item: Zem spieva
Rating: 7.2
Author: Archivist John

Should you actually sit through this?

If you need a story with a beginning, middle, and an end, stay away from this. Seriously. You will be bored out of your mind within ten minutes.

But if you like looking at old photos or wondering what life was like before everyone had a smartphone, it is totally worth it. It feels like a time machine that only goes to one specific village in the mountains.

People who love fast-paced stuff like The Most Dangerous Game will probably find this about as exciting as watching paint dry. But it's not trying to be a thriller.

The faces are the best part

The director, Karel Plicka, clearly spent a lot of time just pointing his camera at people's faces. There are these close-ups of old men with skin that looks like a cracked leather boot.

And the kids! They look so suspicious of the camera. One little boy just stares into the lens with this look like he's trying to figure out if the camera is going to eat him or not.

It’s a lot different than the polished actors you see in something like Breakfast at Sunrise. These people have dirt under their fingernails and they aren't pretending.

The work looks exhausting

There is a lot of hay in this movie. Like, so much hay.

They spend forever showing the villagers cutting the grass with these long scythes. They all move in this weirdly perfect rhythm. It almost looks like a dance, but you can tell their backs probably hurt like crazy at the end of the day.

I noticed how the women carry these massive bundles on their heads. They walk up steep hills like it's nothing. I get winded walking to my mailbox, so watching this made me feel pretty lazy.

The weird festivals

Things get a bit more lively when the festivals start. The costumes are incredible. There are these huge white sleeves and embroidery that must have taken years to finish.

The dancing is fast. Like, really fast. The editng gets kind of choppy here, almost like the movie is trying to keep up with the spinning.

One scene with a bunch of girls dancing in a circle goes on a bit too long. I think I counted them going around about twelve times before the shot finally changed. It’s a bit much, but the music (if you find a version with the score) helps.

Random things I noticed

The clouds. Plicka really liked filming the sky. There are so many shots of just clouds moving over the peaks.
The sheep look very fluffy but also very grumpy.
There is a lot of mud. Everything looks slightly damp.
Nobody smiles for the camera in the way we do now. It's more of a grimace or a blank stare.

Is it art?

I guess so. It’s more of a poem than a movie. It doesn't have the drama of The Hostage or the comedy of The Love Doctor. It just... exists.

The way the water flows over the rocks in the beginning is really peaceful. Then it cuts to a funeral, which is a bit of a mood killer, but that's life in the mountains, I guess.

I caught myself checking my phone once or twice during the longer landscape shots. But then a shot of a jagged mountain peak would come on and I’d put the phone back down. It has this way of pulling you back in just when you’re about to quit.