Czech films are nothing like British or American films, and that's what makes them refreshing to watch. With a Czech film you're never guaranteed a good ending, you're almost certainly guaranteed an comedic suicide attempt and you're extremely likely to see an actor you've seen before in something else (pretty sure there's about 10 Czech actors in total and they just rotate round).
Joking aside, what I love about Czech film is the way they weave comedy and narrative over the backdrop of political unrest or oppression. This makes them somehow much more meaningful and poignant, and without the obsession with a happy ending that you get with Hollywood, a Czech film can give you a much more realistic picture of the lives of normal people.Like a lot of the Czech films I've seen, Báječná Léta Pod Psa (The Wonderful Years That Sucked) is set mainly in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of '68, which is obviously a huge source of inspiration for a lot of art to come out of Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic then and in the years since.
The film tells the story of Kvido, a precocious, bespectacled child and his family's enforced move from Prague to the country side after '68. His skirt chasing linguist of a father struggles to hold down his job due to his reluctance to show himself to be 'politically visible', which in the context of this film means putting a Czech and Soviet flag in your window, playing football and getting a nice communist dog.
His mother spends most of her time trying to control her child of a husband and heat their incredibly cold new house (only football-playing dog owners get nice houses). Kvido is the only one who really takes to the move, proving himself to the be a talented orator, and politically visible on the behalf of the whole family.
Even with the slightly dodgy English subtitles, the young Kvido's dialogue is hilariously adult, the disdain with which his speaks to teachers and parents alike is undoubtedly one of the funniest parts of this film. As his grows up, he begins to write, penning a number of short stories, all the while trying to seduce his childhood sweetheart Jaruska.
This film, through comedy, shows the perils of raising in family in spite of the restrictions of a regime with which you inherently disagree. I would definitely recommend it although finding a version with English subtitles proved quite hard and I ended up paying £10 in delivery charges to get a copy from the Czech Republic- but it was worth it.
Images courtesy of: https://ladyesik.wordpress.com/2012/02/12/michal-viewegh-bajecna-leta-pod-psa/
and http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/95045-bajecna-leta-pod-psa/29635414163/
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