| Želary | |
| Starring: | Anna Geislerová György Cserhalmi |
| Director: | Ondřej Trojan |
| Distributor: | Sony Pictures Classics (US), Falcon (Czech Republic) |
| Runtime: | 150 minutes |
| Country: | Czech Republic Slovakia |
| Language: | Czech Russian German English |
| Budget: | 50,000,000 CZK[1] |
| Gross: | 43,881,284 CZK[2] |
Želary is a 2003 Czech/Slovak film directed by Ondřej Trojan and starring Anna Geislerová. The film received a 2004 Academy Award nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. It was produced by Barrandov Studios in Prague.
The film is adapted from two works by Czech novelist Květa Legátová - "Želary", a collection of short stories published in 2001, and her 2002 book, "Jozova Hanule".
In the 1940s Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, Eliška is a nurse who works alongside her lover, Richard, a respected surgeon. They are part of an underground resistance network that has formed to help those in danger of persecution from the Nazis. Eliška acts as a messenger.
One night, Richard responds to an emergency call to a patient needing a risky operation. Because she has the same blood type, Eliška gives blood for the transfusion. Days later, she arrives at Richard's apartment to find their friend, Slávek, with news that the Gestapo has apprehended two of their members, putting everyone at risk of discovery. Eliška is told that Richard has emigrated, leaving papers for her to assume a new identity. Slávek says that she must leave the city with a man named Joza - the patient who had received the transfusion. Seeing no alternative, Eliška - now Hana - leaves for the countryside.
As a mountain-dweller, Joza appears uncouth and disheveled, but he is kind and considerate to her plight. He provides her with temporary refuge in a small village, where she quickly becomes the object of curiosity. Some, such as Teacher Tkáč the schoolmaster, are xenophobic and suspicious. The Nazis have killed anyone harbouring enemies. Eliška tries to leave, but the village doctor reveals that the Nazis have executed Slávek. He tells her that to remain safe, she must marry Joza and live with him in the mountain village of Želary.
Initially, Eliška is reluctant. Joza takes her to their new home, a small cottage with no electricity, dirt floor, and a fly-infested outhouse. On the day of their wedding, Eliška rebels, but relents upon Joza's explanation that the villagers will not accept a strange, single woman. So Eliška agrees, and the two are married. At the wedding, she meets most of Želary's inhabitants. Helenka is a young girl who lives near Joza and Eliška with her mother, Žeňa. Her best friend is Lipka, a boy whom the villagers treat as an outcast, but who is actually homeless due to his step-father Michal's dislike of him. He survives through the goodwill of Žeňa, Lucka the village midwife, and Old Goreik, an elderly gentleman who lives with his daughter-in-law, Marie, a victim of spousal abuse.
Eliška seems ill-suited to rural life. She finds the villagers' behavior raucous and crude, and is particularly repulsed by Michal, the drunk, who makes unwanted advances. As time passes, Joza's patience and Žeňa's gentle guidance help her to assimilate. Despite this, Eliška remains wary of her husband, until one evening when she breaks their only lamp and fears a beating. On the contrary, Joza is comforting and gives her a gift: a stack of books that she may like. One day, he takes her to his mother's grave and Eliška is moved by the love and kindness he feels. Joza falls in love with Eliška and she with him, leading to the consummation of their marriage.
Years pass and Eliška - called Hanula by the villagers and Hanulka by Joza - bears witness to a number of incidents. The Nazis, though scarce in Želary, kill an entire family for harbouring partisans, and then murder an innocent man in front of everyone. Eliška fears that the Gestapo will find her. Michal attempts to rape her at the saw mill. Helenka witnesses the attack and alerts Joza, who beats Michal and breaks his arm. His parents, the Kutinas, then force Michal's pregnant wife and Lipka's mother, Aninka, to do all the farm work, which leads to her miscarrying. Lipka alerts Eliška, Lucka, and Žeňa, but it is too late. Aninka's death destroys Michal's reputation and redeems Lipka in the eyes of the villagers.
By the spring of 1945, Eliška is a nurse again, and learns the art of herbal healing from Lucka. The old woman divulges that Marie and her father-in-law, Old Goreik, are expecting a child. Following the birth, soldiers from the Red Army arrive with news that the war is over. After a night of celebration, Joza reminds Eliška that she is free to leave (their marriage being technically invalid). Eliška replies that she wants to stay with him always, and falls asleep on the mountain in Joza's arms.
Young Goreik, furious over his father's relationship with his wife, arrives at Old Goreik's home with a drunken soldier who he persuades to rape Marie. Old Goreik arrives and shoots his son, as well as the would-be rapist, but the latter's brother arrives and shoots him. Intoxicated, the soldiers interpret the killing as the act of fascists and shoot at the villagers. With help from Lipka, many escape by crossing a swamp towards an old saw mill, where Lucka and Eliška tend to the wounded. Joza races back and forth between the haven and the village, and rescues several people - including Michal. Meanwhile, the soldiers kill the village priest and rape Žeňa. Vojta, a farmhand, comes to her aid and Joza goes back to rescue him. The next morning, they arrive at the saw mill and find soldiers heading in the same direction. The villagers are relieved, but Joza collapses (Vojta having shot him earlier after mistaking him for the enemy). Devastated, Eliška kneels beside Joza's lifeless body and weeps.
Years later, Želary is virtually abandoned due to modernisation of the town below. Eliška, now with Richard, returns to visit the mountains and the cottage that she had shared with Joza. Lucka emerges from the ruins and is shocked to see Hanula, but remembers that "nothing disappears off the mountain, there’s always tracks". Astounded, Eliška asks if it is possible that Lucka is still alive, to which Lucka responds, "I'm none too sure. I'm none too sure at all." On the top of the mountain, the women laugh.
The film was mostly shot on location in the Malá Fatra mountains in the Northwest region of the Slovak Republic.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 73% based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7 out of 10. The website's critical consensus states, "Zelary is a satisfyingly old-fashioned romance with an epic sweep".[3] Metacritic gave the film 66 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[4]