Throughout his years in exile (1974-1989), Němec was only able to bring a few of his original fiction film screenplays to fruition and in the US he worked as a commercial wedding videographer. Before the political situation allowed him to return to Czechoslovakia, he was invited to make two conventional documentaries: in the US a portrait of the Polish author Czesław Miłosz, The Poet Remembers, and prior to that, producer and director Otto Olejár asked Němec to co-direct a documentary with him about the historical events surrounding the signing of The Munich Agreement of 1938 – for Czechoslovakia a subject of national trauma.
Using plentiful archival footage and existing TV material along with well-researched new interviews, they arrived at an engaging argument against the appeasement tactics of the Western allies towards Hitler, spearheaded by British Prime Minister Chamberlain. A comedy TV sketch with John Cleese mocking the perceived culprit is weaved throughout the film to lighten the mood.
Film details
- Country of production
- UK
- Year
- 1988
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2017
- Length
- 99"
- Medium/Format
- File
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