Signum Laudis

Tight, urgent and impressive morality. Hollý built a rotten panopticon of the command of the Austro-Hungarian army, perpetuated a few very powerful scenes (in particular König's legal sermon to Hoferik is brilliant) and created a less bombastic analogy of Kubrick's Paths of Glory – a universal critique of militarism, cowardice and villainy of gentlemen who do not hesitate order their foot soldiers to the slaughter for their own benefit. I was only personally upset by the synthetics of Liška's musical track, which simply does not fit into an otherwise strictly period film. (18/01/2010)

One of the fundamental works of Czechoslovak cinema, which marked the end of the lean normalization period of the 1970s and, along with Jakubisko's The Millennial Bee, became a harbinger of better times. Vlado Müller shines here in his strongest and most demanding role. Nevertheless, the film has several excellent character actors, decent exteriors, and above all, a quality screenplay. It is difficult to say why the film was not successful; perhaps it was due to its depressive charge. Otherwise, it is one of the best Barrandov Studios films of the 1980s. It is a film without a stupid ideology, but sympathizing with ordinary soldiers in the trenches, who usually suffer at the hands of their superiors in officer uniforms. The final scene, when the officers, after sacrificing the whole unit, nobly go into captivity accompanied by military music, is a chillingly cynical end to the entire film. Corporal Hoferik is an example of a fanaticized soldier who, in his zeal, is capable of leading his own war to the end. Overall impression: 90%. (29/11/2007)