Academy Award Nominee from Czech Republic at Murphy Library
By JULIE CHAUTIN Contributing Writer

The next independent film at the Murphy Public Library, Something Like Happiness, was the Czech Republic's nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. The story of three childhood friends trying to make sense of their lives in a post-Communist world was a popular film in this Eastern European country winning eight Czech "Lions." The library will show it Thursday, February 22 at 6 p.m. There is no charge.

Monika, Dasha and Tonik are three friends who grew up on different floors of a high rise housing project in a smokestack-filled industrial area. Monika's boyfriend has just left for a job in the U.S. and she finds herself in limbo wondering whether he will send for her. Dasha struggles with serious mental problems all the while caring for her two young children and a married lover.

Tonik looks for fulfillment in an endearing Johnny Depp-like fashion. He may not have the financial drive of Monika's boyfriend, but he has a gentle manner, especially where Monika is involved and where Dasha's children are concerned.

Those two angelic children and the decision to make sure they are safe are the moral center of this well-made drama.

Putting dramas on film has been important to the Czech Republic for almost 100 years. According to David Cook's AHistory of Narrative Film (W. W. Norton & Co. 1990), Czechoslovakia has had a long history of quality filmmaking starting after World War I. It slowed during WWII with the Nazi occupation, but resurfaced after the war. In fact in the years from 1963 to 1968, the industry saw the emergence of its own special style, called Czech New Wave cinema, that used non-actor actors and real life locations.

Not surprisingly democracy was growing in the country at the same time in an era that came to be known as the "Prague Spring." Then Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in 1968 and put a stop to democracy. Directors were censored and stopped making films or left the county altogether.

Two of those New Wave Czech directors are of special interest. Milos Forman is known to many in the US. He moved to the U.S. and directed the excellent One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus. But Thursday's writer and director Bohdan Slama is more like Vera Chytilova a former model who made films about day to day struggles, especially those of young women. She has stayed in her country and continued to make films. Slama carries on this tradition.

This film is not rated and due to adult situations is not suitable for children. There is no charge. Call the library at 837-2417.