Friday
12Sep2008
Movie Review - 'I Served the King of England'
Friday, September 12, 2008 at 12:05AM I Served the King of EnglandStarring Ivan Barnev and Oldrich Kaiser
Directed by Jiri Menzel
Rated R
If you're a student of history, you've probably read a
thing or two about European decadence in the years before World War II. It's
presented in
I Served the King of England from a dual
perspective, both that of a bemused disbelief and of a fond nostalgia. The film
takes place over several years in the life of young waiter named Jan Dite, and
over several months in the same man's life after he is released from prison in
Czechoslovakia many years after the war. "I was given a sentence of 15 years,"
explains Dite as the film opens. "Due to amnesty, I only served 14 years, 9
months."
As this man well into his 50s tries to rebuild himself
and his life in a dilapidated shack on the Czech border, he reflects on his
youth, about how he wanted nothing more than to be a millionaire, in a time when
the wealthiest of men were squandering all they had because they could. The film
jumps back and forth between Dite as a waiter and Dite as a man who's waiting.
In those scenes prior to the war, Dite (Ivan
Barnev) is a Chaplinesque character, full of life and bounding around
recklessly from one stroke of good fortune to the next. After he's released from
prison, this same man (now played with remarkable restraint and earnestness by
Oldrich Kaiser)
describes his former life as a novel written by someone else; clearly, it can't
be his own story.
Czechoslovakia struggled mightily during its 74-year
existence, being bound by Nazi rule and then just a few years later by Communist
rule, which lasted four over four decades. To see the juxtaposition from a free
democracy where nothing appeared to be off limits, especially in excess, with a
world where the same people have nothing but their memories is a tough thing to
pull off in a movie. Consider, too, that the memories worth keeping are of a
time that was barely even real. But director
Jiri Menzel
has managed to keep these worlds as separate in his film as they must've felt to
Czech citizens who managed to live through it all.
I Served the King of England (the film gets its
name from the boast of one of Dite's superiors while serving as a waiter in a
posh hotel) could easily drop the ball, but the two lead performances are each
captivating, and the production design, those little stitches we need to see
that transport us to a time in the past we've only read about, are flawless. The
movie looks great, it sounds great, it's funny, well-acted, and has an equal
amount of hope and desperation.
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