Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Roland E. Zwick The main problem with the documentary "Czech Dream" is that isn't really saying what it thinks it's saying.In an audacious - I hesitate to use the word "inspired" - act of street theater, Vit Klusak and Filip Remunda, two student filmmakers from the Czech Republic, pulled off a major corporate hoax to serve as the basis for their movie: they deliberately fabricated a phony "hypermarket" (the Eastern European equivalent of Costco or Wal Mart Super Store), built an entire ad campaign around it - replete with billboards, radio and TV spots, an official logo, a catchy theme song and photos of fake merchandise - and then waited around to see just how many "dopes" would show up to their creation on opening day. They even built a makeshift façade to convince people that the store itself actually existed.One might well ask, "Why do such a thing?" Well, that's a very good question, but the answer the filmmakers provide isn't all that satisfying a one. Essentially, we're told that the purpose of the stunt was to show how easily people can be manipulated into believing something - even something that's not true - simply through the power of advertising. And the movie makers run for moral cover by claiming that the "real" (i.e. higher) purpose for the charade is to convince the Czech people not to fall for all the advertisements encouraging them to join the European Union. Fair enough - especially when one considers that the actual advertisers who agree to go along with the stunt declaim against the unethical nature of lying to customers, all the while justifying their collaboration in the deception by claiming it to be a form of "research" into what does and does not work in advertising. In a way, by allowing themselves to be caught on camera making these comments, these ad men and women are as much dupes of the filmmakers as the poor unsuspecting people who are the primary target of the ruse.But, in many ways, the satirical arrow not only does not hit its intended target, it ironically zeroes right back around on the very filmmakers who launched it. For it is THEY THEMSELVES and NOT the good-hearted and naturally trusting people who ultimately come off as the unethical and classless ones here, as they proceed to make fools out of perfectly decent people, some of them old and handicapped and forced to travel long distances on foot to get to the spot. And what is all this supposed to prove anyway? That people are "greedy" because they go to the opening of a new supermarket looking for bargains? Or that they're stupid and gullible because they don't suspect that there might not be an actual market even though one has been advertised? Such vigilance would require a level of cynicism that would make it virtually impossible to function in the real world.No, I'm afraid this smart-alecky, nasty little "stunt" only proves what complete and utter jerks the filmmakers are for making some really nice people feel like idiots. And, indeed many of them, when they finally discover the trick that's been played on them, react with a graciousness and good humor I'm not sure I would be able to muster were I to find myself in their position.I'm not saying that the movie isn't gripping - something akin to witnessing a massive traffic accident in action - but, when the dust has finally settled and all the disappointed customers return red-faced and empty-handed to their homes, we can safely declare that they are not the ones who should be feeling ashamed.

Polaris_DiB Everyone with any opinion about advertising (which, in this hyper-mediated world, is pretty much anyone) has at LEAST a half-aware understanding of the ability of advertising to affect their lives. Czech Dream is a movie about just that, as two student filmmakers design an ad campaign for a product that doesn't even exist, a hypermarket (which is, from what I saw in the movie, sort of a mix between a wholesale market and a supermarket) that advertises its opening day by saying such things as, "Don't come!" and "Don't spend!" Two thousand people arrive anyway.This documentary is most effective in its complete simplicity. The filmmakers and crew take no time trying to hide their judgment or view from the movie--you can even see the mics, lighting set ups, other cameramen, and so on--because the idea here is NOT to create a so-called objective documentary but to show much more directly and personally the power of advertising over people. This power is something everyone perceives, but not as many people really believe in, until something like this occurs and two thousand people are left on a field with nothing in it but a banner.Czech Dream is full of wonderful details. Vit and Filip spend little time detailing the actual process, focusing more on the message that the ads are trying to create, and allows most of the film's time to settle on people's comments about it. The self-serving dialog of the advertisers ("Oh, I think this is a horrible thing, but we're professionals and so we'll do it. It's like a doctor who has to save a rapist" "I like being an advertiser, you know, I like going out with my friends and knowing that I am the one that moves the world" "Filmmakers lie, advertisers don't lie") is well foiled by the reactions of the crowd of people who actually arrived, whose opinions range from "Hey, I know what this is, this is two people trying to get us outside for once! Let's have a picnic!" to "I'm going to take you to court for this!" and who, amazingly, take very little time in connecting the event to its political meaning (one that the filmmakers didn't really intend).One thing about this documentary I find particularly interesting, though, is how much it focuses on "Czech" aspects of it, even though there's nothing besides that one word that makes it any different from any other ad campaign. The fake hypermarket is called "Czech Dream" to create a sense of consumerist paradise, of course, but most of the reactions of everyone involves the idea that they were lead to be tricked BECAUSE they were Czech (which some people are angry about, others amused), when in fact a situation like this can occur anywhere advertising of this type exists (everywhere? Maybe not in the third world, but that's contestable as well). Of course, here in the United States, if anyone did this, they'd get sued or something (Americans have no sense of humor). But still, the message is surprisingly universal despite how personalized and small the two filmmakers tried to make it.--PolarisDiB

Seamus2829 If you're as much of a fan of a well conceived prank as much as I am, well, get yourself up,out & to any cinema that is showing Czech Dream. Czech Dream (or Cesky Sen,as it's called),is a well planned out prank by two Czech student film makers that gage reaction in their fellow citizens regarding consumer culture. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989,which led to the formation of the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, people basically wanted the same things that their neighbours in the West wanted:basic creature comforts (and didn't have to stand in endless lines for). Filip Remunda & Vit Klusak have crafted a tongue in cheek black comedy about attacking the vulnerability in people by creating a hypermarket that doesn't exist. It's just a well put together prank (with the film being the making of the prank). The reaction of the Czech masses when they show up to go on a buying frenzy, only to find out that their beloved Cesky Sen is all a prank. Some folk (such as I) will walk away with a perverse smile,like we were just witness to a well put together joke, others will probably walk out, feeling the same anger that some of the shoppers felt. This is a film I would recommend to anyone who is familiar with pranksters such as 'The Yes Men'(who also have a equally sly film documentary on some of their antics,which I also recommend). Czech Dream is a film that one will have to do a bit of searching out to find, but is well worth it.

milo970 after weeks of advertising at the tax payers expense via a student grant; about 2000 hapless consumers including the aged and handicapped listen to preposterous ribbon cutting speeches and charge/jog while complaining about lack of parking across a paddock to find the hypermarket is a canvas facade on scaffolding. Listening to amateur Czech consumers angry abuse about the perpetrators is a very funny thing!The build up was painful as filmmakers attempt to poke obvious jibes at the likes of BBDMs Czech office that helped them create a radical campaign. About as funny as most non-English speaking comedy; "look Vladimir, he throw pie in face!".....yes, we've seen that one...sigh...welcome to the West. But it was worth it to see the irate responses of the elderly and confused.Why? When the filmmakers were finally quizzed. I believe their point was that citizens blindly obey and will go to the EU referendum the same way. The Govt and big business are lying to us. 'Look…' they say; 'we just paid them to do the same thing.' If you enjoy the spoutings of incensed people, Milo says check it out.