Divided We Fall Wikipedia film page

Divided We Fall (film)
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Divided We Fall
Divided We Fall.JPG
Directed by
Jan Hřebejk
Produced by
Pavel Borovan
Ondřej Trojan
Written by
Jan Hřebejk
 Petr Jarchovský
Starring
Bolek Polívka
Anna Šišková
Csongor Kassai
Music by
Ales Brezina
Cinematography
Jan Malír
Edited by
Vladimír Barák
Release dates
Czech Republic:
 16 March 2000
United States:
 8 June 2001
United Kingdom:
 31 May 2002
Running time
123 min.
Country
Czech Republic
Language
Czech
German
Box office
$1,830,938 (worldwide)[1]
Divided We Fall (Czech: Musíme si pomáhat literally translated as We Must Help Each Other) is a 2000 Czech film directed by Jan Hřebejk. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 References
4 External links

Plot[edit]
The film opens in 1939 Czechoslovakia. Horst, a Czech-German Nazi collaborator married to a German woman and co-worker of Josef, brings food to the invalid Josef and his wife Marie, who are Slavs. Josef hates the Nazis. When Josef finds David, who had escaped a concentration camp in occupied Poland after first being sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in northern Bohemia, Josef and Marie decide to hide him in their apartment. Horst makes an unannounced visit, bringing presents as usual. Marie is ambivalent about their secret: On one hand she never misses an opportunity to blame her husband for bringing in the Jew, but on the other she is merciful and sympathetic with the poor kid locked in the closet day and night. She suggests that Josef accepts Horst's job offer evicting Czech Jews from their homes, so as to get more protection and deflect possible suspicions. Josef accepts and is considered a collaborator by the neighbor Franta (who had tried to give David over to the Nazi authorities, when he first escaped from a concentration camp). Marie spends the days learning French from David and getting more and more tender toward him. Horst's visits become more frequent, and one afternoon, he attempts to rape Marie.
Josef gets his fertility tested to confirm a long-time rumor: He can't have children. Humiliated by his earlier antics, Horst takes revenge on Marie by forcing them to provide lodging for his supervisor, a committed Nazi bureaucrat, who had suffered a stroke after Nazis kill his son for deserting the army. Marie refuses to accept him on the grounds that she is pregnant. Unfortunately, the community is well-aware that Josef and Marie are infertile, and Josef proposes that David get Marie pregnant in order to stage a "miracle" and avoid further investigation. After much resistance from Marie, she and David have sex. Marie becomes pregnant, and Horst eventually apologizes for his previous behavior. As the Germans lose ground in World War II, Horst's behavior begins to change. Based on his previous suspicions that someone else is living with Josef and Marie, he redirects German authorities when the latter search the street house by house. Finally, the Germans are defeated and the Czech people take brutal revenge on them. As the Germans are being driven out, Marie goes into labor. Josef frantically searches for a doctor, but the streets of the city are in chaos and the Nazi-affiliated doctor has already been captured.
He finally finds the new ruling troika which includes his old neighbor Franta as the representative of the Czech Resistance. Unfortunately, Franta remembers him as a collaborator and orders his arrest. Josef protests his innocence and invites them to meet David as proof of his ambivalence towards the Jews, in exchange for a chance to find the Nazi doctor to deliver Marie's baby. In the jails, Josef finds that the doctor has committed suicide but also finds Horst crouched in a corner. Remembering Horst's previous actions that saved David's life, Josef tells the Czech soldiers that Horst is his doctor. The partisans escort them to Josef's house, driving through the ruins of the city. Horst is able to quickly assume the role of Marie's doctor due to his experience delivering his own sons, much to Marie's initial horror. The revolutionaries still want to see David in order to prove Josef's allegiance, but in the chaos and gunfire, David had hid himself elsewhere. The captain of the revolutionaries, a member of the external Czech forces, does not believe Josef's story and is about to shoot him, but David shows up at the last minute after Josef's despairing plea: "Let us be human!" After they all return to the household, Marie and David's son is born. The revolutionaries interrogate David about Horst's background, but David, realizing that Horst had known about the situation for over two years and had not reported it, supports Josef's claim that Horst is a doctor and thus saves Horst's life as well.
Days later, Josef walks the baby through the devastated streets of his city. In the ruins, he imagines David's deceased family and his supervisor's youngest son sitting around a small table, waving at him. Josef picks up David's son and waves his hand back. An aria from J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (Erbarme dich, mein Gott, God, please have mercy on our frailty!) is the denouement of the film.
Cast[edit]
Bolek Polívka - Josef Cízek
Anna Šišková - Marie Cizková
Csongor Kassai - David Wiener
Jaroslav Dušek - Horst Prohaska
Martin Huba - Dr. Albrecht Kepke
Jiří Pecha - Frantisek Simácek
Simona Stašová - Libuse Simácková
Vladimir Marek - SS Officer
Richard Tesařík - Captain
Karel Heřmánek - Captain
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dividedwefall.htm
External links[edit]
Divided We Fall at the Internet Movie Database
Divided We Fall at Box Office Mojo


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1999 films
World War II films
Czech-language films
Films directed by Jan Hřebejk
Films set in the Czech Republic
Holocaust films




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Divided We Fall (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Divided We Fall
Divided We Fall.JPG
Directed by
Jan Hřebejk
Produced by
Pavel Borovan
Ondřej Trojan
Written by
Jan Hřebejk
 Petr Jarchovský
Starring
Bolek Polívka
Anna Šišková
Csongor Kassai
Music by
Ales Brezina
Cinematography
Jan Malír
Edited by
Vladimír Barák
Release dates
Czech Republic:
 16 March 2000
United States:
 8 June 2001
United Kingdom:
 31 May 2002
Running time
123 min.
Country
Czech Republic
Language
Czech
German
Box office
$1,830,938 (worldwide)[1]
Divided We Fall (Czech: Musíme si pomáhat literally translated as We Must Help Each Other) is a 2000 Czech film directed by Jan Hřebejk. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 References
4 External links

Plot[edit]
The film opens in 1939 Czechoslovakia. Horst, a Czech-German Nazi collaborator married to a German woman and co-worker of Josef, brings food to the invalid Josef and his wife Marie, who are Slavs. Josef hates the Nazis. When Josef finds David, who had escaped a concentration camp in occupied Poland after first being sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in northern Bohemia, Josef and Marie decide to hide him in their apartment. Horst makes an unannounced visit, bringing presents as usual. Marie is ambivalent about their secret: On one hand she never misses an opportunity to blame her husband for bringing in the Jew, but on the other she is merciful and sympathetic with the poor kid locked in the closet day and night. She suggests that Josef accepts Horst's job offer evicting Czech Jews from their homes, so as to get more protection and deflect possible suspicions. Josef accepts and is considered a collaborator by the neighbor Franta (who had tried to give David over to the Nazi authorities, when he first escaped from a concentration camp). Marie spends the days learning French from David and getting more and more tender toward him. Horst's visits become more frequent, and one afternoon, he attempts to rape Marie.
Josef gets his fertility tested to confirm a long-time rumor: He can't have children. Humiliated by his earlier antics, Horst takes revenge on Marie by forcing them to provide lodging for his supervisor, a committed Nazi bureaucrat, who had suffered a stroke after Nazis kill his son for deserting the army. Marie refuses to accept him on the grounds that she is pregnant. Unfortunately, the community is well-aware that Josef and Marie are infertile, and Josef proposes that David get Marie pregnant in order to stage a "miracle" and avoid further investigation. After much resistance from Marie, she and David have sex. Marie becomes pregnant, and Horst eventually apologizes for his previous behavior. As the Germans lose ground in World War II, Horst's behavior begins to change. Based on his previous suspicions that someone else is living with Josef and Marie, he redirects German authorities when the latter search the street house by house. Finally, the Germans are defeated and the Czech people take brutal revenge on them. As the Germans are being driven out, Marie goes into labor. Josef frantically searches for a doctor, but the streets of the city are in chaos and the Nazi-affiliated doctor has already been captured.
He finally finds the new ruling troika which includes his old neighbor Franta as the representative of the Czech Resistance. Unfortunately, Franta remembers him as a collaborator and orders his arrest. Josef protests his innocence and invites them to meet David as proof of his ambivalence towards the Jews, in exchange for a chance to find the Nazi doctor to deliver Marie's baby. In the jails, Josef finds that the doctor has committed suicide but also finds Horst crouched in a corner. Remembering Horst's previous actions that saved David's life, Josef tells the Czech soldiers that Horst is his doctor. The partisans escort them to Josef's house, driving through the ruins of the city. Horst is able to quickly assume the role of Marie's doctor due to his experience delivering his own sons, much to Marie's initial horror. The revolutionaries still want to see David in order to prove Josef's allegiance, but in the chaos and gunfire, David had hid himself elsewhere. The captain of the revolutionaries, a member of the external Czech forces, does not believe Josef's story and is about to shoot him, but David shows up at the last minute after Josef's despairing plea: "Let us be human!" After they all return to the household, Marie and David's son is born. The revolutionaries interrogate David about Horst's background, but David, realizing that Horst had known about the situation for over two years and had not reported it, supports Josef's claim that Horst is a doctor and thus saves Horst's life as well.
Days later, Josef walks the baby through the devastated streets of his city. In the ruins, he imagines David's deceased family and his supervisor's youngest son sitting around a small table, waving at him. Josef picks up David's son and waves his hand back. An aria from J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (Erbarme dich, mein Gott, God, please have mercy on our frailty!) is the denouement of the film.
Cast[edit]
Bolek Polívka - Josef Cízek
Anna Šišková - Marie Cizková
Csongor Kassai - David Wiener
Jaroslav Dušek - Horst Prohaska
Martin Huba - Dr. Albrecht Kepke
Jiří Pecha - Frantisek Simácek
Simona Stašová - Libuse Simácková
Vladimir Marek - SS Officer
Richard Tesařík - Captain
Karel Heřmánek - Captain
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dividedwefall.htm
External links[edit]
Divided We Fall at the Internet Movie Database
Divided We Fall at Box Office Mojo


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Czech Lion for Best Film

























 


Categories: Czech films
1999 films
World War II films
Czech-language films
Films directed by Jan Hřebejk
Films set in the Czech Republic
Holocaust films




Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikimedia Shop

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Čeština
Deutsch
Français
Italiano
Polski
Slovenčina
Edit links
This page was last modified on 4 September 2014 at 17:55.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divided_We_Fall_(film)