The Murderer Hides His Face

With his mostly stony expression, Rudolf Hrušinský shows perfect minimalist acting, he doesn't need to fool around, gesticulate excessively or articulate in any strange way to draw attention to himself. His mere presence is enough to draw all the attention whenever he's in the scene, and even if he was just sitting and smoking for the whole film, you wouldn’t be able to your eyes off him. The first two parts of the "Kalaš" trilogy, this one and On the Trail of Blood, have such a wonderfully gloomy atmosphere, full of suspicion, uncertainty and fear, and such a brilliant script that they are clearly among the best crime films ever made in this country. A must see for lovers of the detective genre. (05/01/2008)

This Czech detective story did not have an easy time during the era of real socialism, as it was mostly affected by regime concessions and ideology. Not to mention that many of the popular genre motifs could not be used in the prevailing system at all. Over time, I think that only two detective stories, coincidentally both from the same director, deserve absolute praise, and this film is one of them, alongside On the Trail of Blood. This is simply a film that has atmosphere from beginning to end, created by the black and white cinematography, the precise actors who truly act and identify with their characters, and above all, it has practically flawless music that perfectly harmonizes with the exteriors full of dirt, mud, dilapidation, and the primitiveness of some characters. It is a drama that occasionally touches upon the genre of psycho-horror, which is rarely explored in Czech cinema, and except for the somewhat theatrical escape-non-escape of the villain at the very end, I find no flaws in it. It is suspenseful, realistic, and Czech. It is typical that while British detective stories often take place in noble mansions and snobbish society, this Czech story takes place on a decaying state farm. :-) Overall impression: 95%. (29/03/2011)

The good old-school of detective movies whose only weakness is the ironclad regularity of the repetitive investigative procedures. If the case had more dark forests or psychology, it’d be a masterpiece, because Schulhoff is very good at keeping the curiosity towards the reveal of the identity of the killer – I didn’t look for it in advance… 80% (12/11/2018)