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Dark Blue World
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Wikipedia article
'Dark Blue World' is a 2001 film by Czech director Jan Svrk, the Academy Award-winning director of 'Kolya', about Czech pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. The screenplay was written by Zdenk Svrk, the director's father. The film stars Czech actors Ondej Vetch, Krytof Hdek and Oldich Kaiser. British actors include Tara Fitzgerald, Charles Dance and Anna Massey.
Plot
In 1950, during the Cold War, Frantiek (Franta) Slma (Ondej Vetch) is incarcerated in Czechoslovakia, because of his prior service in the RAF. His recollections of the war begin in 1939, just days prior to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the invasion, the Czechoslovak Army is disbanded and its Air Force has to surrender its aircraft. However, Franta and his young friend Karel Vojtek (Krytof Hdek), among others, refuse to submit to their occupiers and flee to the United Kingdom to join the RAF.
The British make the Czechoslovaks retrain from the basics, which infuriates them, especially Karel, who is both impatient to fight the Germans and humiliated at being retaught what he already knows. Karel also sees the compulsory English language lessons as a pointless waste of his time. The RAF is in such a dire need of pilots during the Battle of Britain that eventually the Czechoslovak airmen are allowed to fly. After their first sortie they realise why the British have trained them so intensely: a young Czechoslovak nicknamed "Tom Tom" is shot down by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and killed. Franta becomes the unit commander, with the younger Karel under his charge.
While shooting down a Heinkel He 111 bomber, Karel's Spitfire fighter aircraft is shot down. However, he manages to survive and find his way to a farm. There he meets and falls in love with Susan (Tara Fitzgerald), although she thinks he is far too young. The next day, after returning to the aerodrome, Karel brings Franta to meet Susan. The latter begins to get attracted to Susan, although Karel believes that Susan is interested in him.
Following a mission to France where the squadron attacks a train, Karel is shot down, but Franta lands and rescues him, a move that shows that their friendship endures. Soon after, however, Karel learns a sort of love triangle has developed, with Susan being involved with Franta, which leads to a quarrel between the two friends. Later in the war, while escorting American bombers, Franta's Spitfire malfunctions and he is forced to ditch into the ocean. His life raft bursts as he tries to inflate it, so Karel tries to drop his own raft, but he flies too low and fatally crashes. The raft emerges from the water, allowing Franta to survive.
Afterward, when the war is over, Franta drives to Susan's home, only to find her with her injured husband recently returned from fighting overseas. Knowing he has no future with Susan and wanting to preserve her honour, he pretends to have lost his way and asks directions to the next town. Franta returns to Czechoslovakia and finds his old girlfriend has married the neighbourhood jobsworth, has given birth to a child, and has taken over Bara, his dog. All the disappointed Franta can do is endure the situation as stoically as he can. In prison, he only has his memories of his friendship with Karel to sustain him.
Cast
Production
Principal photography for the film involved a large number of locations: Hradcany Airport, Czech Republic, Dover, England, Germany and South Africa.[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/453442/Dark-Blue-World-The/original-print-info.html "Original Print Information: Dark Blue World (2001)."] 'Turner Classic Movies'. Retrieved: 28 August 2014.
Dogfight footage from the 1969 film 'Battle of Britain' was seamlessly integrated with contemporary film footage using computer imagery and mastering to create the aerial sequences due to the prohibitively expensive cost ($10,000 per hour) of renting a real Spitfire. The scene of a train being attacked was the most expensive scene in Czech cinema history, costing more than the entire film 'Kolya'. Brief scenes from the 1990 film 'Memphis Belle' were also incorporated. Director Jan Svrk played a number of roles, including practically all the crew members of an Allied North American B-25 Mitchell bomber in the scene where a damaged bomber is escorted.
Reception
'Dark Blue World' opened in both the U.S. and Europe at major international film festivals in London and Toronto, to generally positive reviews, making it one of the most popular aviation war films made.
Rex Reed described the film in 'The New York Observer' as an "epic that blends action, romance and tragedy. Brilliantly directed and sublimely acted."'Dark Blue World DVD'. Los Angeles: Columbia Tristar Video, 2002. Animator Hayao Miyazaki said that this is his favourite film, as it shows the speed and fragility of aircraft and the historic tragedy of the Czech pilots after the war.Miyazaki, Hayao. 19972008 ['Orikaeshi Ten 19972008' Japanese]. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 2008. .
However, other reviewers were not as enthused. Leonard Maltin commented that the love triangle provided a "more novel and interesting" aspect but the "surprisingly elaborate" flying scenes helped make the film less of a "capable but uninspired yarn", not very different from other World War II features. Peter Bradshaw's review in 'The Guardian' echoed a similar view, "A by-the-numbers WW2 romantic tale of two Czech pilots in love with the same British woman, which plays like a mixture of 'Pearl Harbor' and "Two Little Boys" by Rolf Harris."Bradshaw, Peter. [https://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/89167/dark.blue.world "Dark Blue World."] 'The Guardian'. Retrieved: 28 August 2014.
Box office
'Dark Blue World' was the most popular Czech film of the year with admissions of 1 million. It was released in the United States on December 28, 2001, and grossed $258,771.[http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=darkblueworld.htm "Dark Blue World (2001)."] 'Box Office Mojo'. Retrieved: 28 August 2014. The film grossed $2,300,000 worldwide.[http://www.borovan.cz/1171/jan-sverak-dokoncil-slouceni-produkcnich-firem "Jan Vise completed a merger of production companies" (Czech).] 'Ale Borovan', 13 December 2012. Retrieved: 28 August 2014.Awards and honours
'Dark Blue World' was a major winner at the 2002 Czech Lion Awards with Box Office Award, Critics' AwardJan Svrk for Best Director, Vladimr Smutn for Best Cinematography, Ondej Soukup for Best Music and Alois Firek for Best Editing. The film was also nominated for Best Film, Ondej Vetch for Best Actor, Krytof Hdek for Best Supporting Actor, Linda Rybov for Best Supporting Actress, Zbynk Mikulk for Best Sound, Vra Mirov for Best Costumes and Jan Vlask for Best Art Direction.
'Dark Blue World' also won the 2001 National Board Review award for Best Foreign Film and the 2002 Love is Folly International Film Festival (Bulgaria), Golden Aphrodite Award (Best Film) for Jan Svrk. Ondej Vetch was also nominated for the Audience Award (Best Actor) in the 2001 European Film Awards.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244479/awards?ref_=tt_ql_4 "Awards: Dark Blue World (2001)."] 'IMDb'. Retrieved: 28 August 2014.
See also
*Frantiek Fajtl
*Nebet jezdci aka Sky Riders
References
Citations
Bibliography
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