Turfseer
In Czech, the superb "Divided We Fall" is called "Musíme si pomáhat," literally translated as "We Must Help Each Other." The story begins with a series of three short vignettes starting in 1937, and then skipping two years ahead twice until we're in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1941. During these short scenes, we witness the falling fortunes of the Wieners, a well-off Jewish family, who are about to be shipped out to extermination camps in Poland. David Weiner, the son who is in his late 20s, naively believes that his family will be taken care of at Thereseinstadt, the "model" Nazi concentration camp which he later learns is a "transfer station" to the gas chambers.The inciting incident occurs when David turns back up in his old town after escaping from Auschwitz, looking for some kind of shelter and protection. Josef, formerly an employee of the Weiners, finds David hiding at the Weiner family's old villa. Josef tells David he can't stay there as a German family is about to move in there the next morning. Josef brings David back to his home where his wife, Marie, gives David some food, and they try and figure out what to do. David informs Josef that he plans to meet a friend the next morning so Josef drives him to the appointed meeting place in the pouring rain. When the friend fails to show up, Josef just cannot abandon David and drives him back to his home, where he and his wife agree to shelter him in a hidden pantry until the war ends.The tension in the plot comes mainly from the most unusual character, Horst, who worked for the Weiners before the war and reported directly to Josef. Born in Bohemia, Horst is an ethnic German, who is married to a German woman. Horst has a secret crush on Marie, who is the main object of his visits. Horst is a Nazi collaborator who eventually conscripts Josef to work with him in his primary job—confiscating Jewish property from the Jews who are about to be shipped away to Poland. Josef agrees to work with Horst since the job will take away any suspicion that he may be hiding a Jew in his home. The down side is that the neighbors come to believe that Josef is now collaborating with the Nazis."Divided We Fall" is an unusual film as the Holocaust is treated from a comic viewpoint. It's been said that comedy is almost like tragedy, but at the last moment one "looks away." Thus, as Andrew James Horton says in his review of the film, director Hřebejk portrays the German occupation as "relatively peaceful, albeit a tense peace." Tragedy intrudes only directly once when David tells Marie about how his sister was given an opportunity to become a Kapo (Jewish police officer) in the concentration camp, but she was required to beat her parents to death, to obtain such a promotion. The Nazis' cruelty is presented with subtlety—during a raid when they're looking for banned foodstuffs, a Nazi officer shoots a Czech woman's dog; another example is the remark about Dr. Fischer, who sterilized 1,000 Roma (gypsies). Horton sees "Divided We Fall" as a "a ground-breaking film, in that it challenges Czechs, a nation that always likes to think of itself as a passive victim, to consider the actively inglorious aspect of its past." Horst alludes to the fact that he was mistreated as a child before the war, due to the fact he was an ethnic German. And after the war was over, many Czechs didn't want to be reminded there were sinister, bloody reprisals against the ethnic Germans, whom they regarded as collectively guilty. In a brilliant scene toward the end of the film, as Josef runs through the streets seeking help for his wife who is about give birth, the reprisals are underway, including a glimpse of decapitated heads inside a hearse."Divided We Fall" proceeds fitfully in a series of plot reversals that bring the narrative to a dazzling climax. Horst's charge, the commandant Dr. Kepke, falls from grace after his young son deserts from the German army, and Horst must find him another place to live. After being rejected by Marie (after the two go on a car trip to the countryside, where the boorish collaborator attempts to rape her), Horst gets his revenge by insisting that Josef and Marie take in the now depressed Kepke. Marie stymies Horst's plan to have Kepke move in with them by claiming she's pregnant; Josef realizes however, he's just been certified sterile so their only hope is for David to impregnate Marie.Earlier Horst comes to believe that Josef and Marie have been hiding a Jew in their home (after hearing the voices of Marie giving French lessons to David through the drain pipe), and is about to expose David's hiding place, when a German raid begins. So it's Horst who protects the family as a "citizen of the Reich." Nonetheless, after the town is liberated by the Russians, Horst is imprisoned and beaten as a collaborator. In the irony of all ironies in the film, Franta, Josef's neighbor who was going to turn David in when he first appeared in town after his escape, is now part of a citizen's brigade who is responsible for sitting in judgment on all his neighbors during the wartime occupation.The theme of the film's denouement is forgiveness. Josef anoints Horst as the doctor who delivers Marie's baby. Franta, feeling guilty over how he treated David, overlooks Horst's past indiscretions and he is accepted back into the community. And in a classic moment of redemption, Josef holds up the newborn and gazes toward a table where the deceased members of the Wiener family along with Kepke's deserter son, sit. Out of the darkness, there is hope. "Divided We Fall" is a film that must be seen!
MartinHafer
"Divided We Fall" is an odd little Czech film. That's because like at least one other reviewer pointed out here on IMDb, the distinction between the good and the bad in the film is not 100% clear--people are not all good or all bad in many cases. I like this, as too often films of the Nazi occupation are very black & white in their views. Now I am NOT defending the Nazis, but talking about those who worked with their Nazi overlords--who played the system yet, in some cases, managed to retain a bit of their humanity. I appreciated this very much and it reminded me of another very good film of this period--"The Shop on Main Street". It, too, managed to show an overlooked side of this period in Occupied Europe.In addition, the film had nice acting, an original script and was well worth seeing. However, I noticed that the film is listed as a comedy--and I am really not sure how accurate this is. Sure, there are a few absurd portions of the film--but funny?! No. But worth seeing.By the way, I have no idea why but portions of the DVD were slow--and I am not talking about the pacing but the actual speed of the action. It was as if portions were done in slightly slow-motion--and I have no idea why.By the way, if you haven't noticed it on IMDb, this movie was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film for 2001. It lost to "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", though I thought "Divided We Fall" was better (at least for my tastes).
drdancm-2
If I were to say that this film is one of the best film of its genre, it would not be fair, because it is one of the best movies, period.A terrific story is masterfully directed and acted, w beautiful cinematography, and music. Everything done with perfection. Here is a film that is Perfect.
