Jean-Gaspard Palenicek
The main problem of this film is that it has been initially made for TV only and wasn't intended for the big screen - and this shows terribly. What could have been an average TV movie has now the looks of a sloppy mess : the design, the effects, everything looks way too poor for a story taking place in Heaven and on a castle. The script is way too talkative - everything is said rather than showed (personnaly, I believe very strongly in the emotional and narrative power of images in movie-making, as a good example, I would quote Terrence Malick's last two films). The acting was under the average : the actors didn't seem to understand, and even less to believe in what they were saying. The camera was rather good, but waisted on a way too conventional directing. The only good thing about it is that this is the first Czech film after the fall of communism that deals with a Christian subject in a way that does not look like propaganda (neither for nor against Christianity) - which is rather pleasing but not enough to make it a good film. And then...... the film has an extraordinary score by composer Milos Bok - which is why I am bothering to leave this comment. The music is just wonderful : strong, beautifully written - it sounds like a modern Wagner, complex and yet directly understandable to all. I have bought the soundtrack (which is for sale on the Internet) which made me realize something else : the music tells the story much better than the film itself, and as such, even the score damages the film, because it gives you a vivid feeling about how the original material could have led to a nice film, were it handled by more gifted people. Which leads me to the conclusion : it does not mater how much money you have, the thing is to believe in what you are doing - and having a little care for professionality (which include thinking about how to do things the best appropriate way).
