The Smiling Country

For lovers of chapters from the history of Czech film, this is an absolute joy. Gajer's The Smiling Country is exactly halfway between The Village Revolt and Holiday with Angel. Learning and celebrating from the early years of the United Agricultural Cooperative has never been such a lovely affair before or since. Otomar Korbelář’s wise and friendly chairman in the lead role gives the impression that the old order is long behind us. After all, it is so easy to fill the acting ensemble with just figures of all those village types that our dear chairman can handle so playfully. All of them will eventually understand that only the United Agricultural Cooperative is the right path forward. Even the former gossips will understand this, and only Baldinka remains plays a villain because she would rather gossip and not build. If Czechs have always counted only from 1943, they don't look at work, but only at money... The motif of young love, the collective forgiveness of the widow of a resistance fighter who fell at the radio station, fits in quite naturally. It's simply unforgivable how many films like The Smiling Country are still unavailable to the general public. Because only if all the films are available can there be justice. Critical thinking cannot be learned from brief scripts; films must first be seen. (31.03.2019)