Rating: 
Summary: Shoots "Pearl Harbor" 'n "Saving Private Ryan" outa the sky
Review:
This little European film is great! This is by far a better war movie than "Pearl Harbor" or "Saving Private Ryan."
I think they could have told the story without flashback mode, but just in present-day mode. Great characters, story, action scenes, and languages - English, Czech (almost like Polish), French, and German.
The attention to detail was quite admirable. I loved watching the basic aircraft training - on bicycles! I can't think of a single cliche in this flick, and the characters were all original and complex. Overall, a very well-made film, and probably the most expensive-looking European film I've ever seen. Let's hope more like this come from the Czech Republic!
-- JJ Timmins
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding movie
Review: After being so excited to see Pearl Harbor and so disapointed when it came out, this movie was enormously satisfying. Sure, it's a darned good movie. Sure, it's well acted and well written. All of that pales next to the sheer magnificence of the flight scenes. Combining first rate special effects with real planes, it does to flying what "Saving Private Ryan" did for infantry combat, setting a visceral standard of sight and sound (especially sound) that everything else will have to match up to. The tracers, the battle damage, the sounds of cannon shells whistling by, it's just amazing.
Let me put it this way, I rented it, watched it, and went immediately to my computer and ordered the DVD. It's that good. Matt
Rating: 
Summary: From the director who brought us "Kolya"
Review: As described in its DVD case, this movie is in the tradition of "Pearl Harbour". In my view, this is an arty version of "Pearl Harbour". It's set in World War 2 where 2 best friends fall in love with the same woman. Naturally, the movie would work to a climax where one person would live to tell the tale. On paper this movie is a sure winner with those aerial fight scenes (not as splendidly done as "Pearl Harbour" but that's dependent upon the budget given), the bond between the Czech pilots (reminded me of a better offering from yesteryears, "Memphis Belle"), betrayal & eventual reconciliation of friendships, international cast. A movie that is commended to bring to our attention a little known fact about Czech pilots that fought chivalrously in World War 2 & yet, got to suffer the humiliation & torture of forced labour camp when their country fall under the Communist regime. Fortunately, their contribution is brought to light & their acknowledgment is long overdue. It's an okay movie, which would probably be better under a more intense editing. Few DVD highlights such as photo montages, aerial fights symphony, etc. Well done & keep up the good work!
Rating:
Summary: WWII Without the Shmaltz!
Review: As other reviewers have commented, if you found the movie "Pearl Harbor" trite, simplistic, inane and sentimentally shmaltzy, check this film out. See a different take on WWII flyers with the central story a love triangle with two pilots in love with the same woman, only this one made with some adult sensibility. The story of Czech pilots who fled their Nazi occupied country to fly for the RAF in England, the technical aspects of the film are done with care, and the flying sequences accurate and rendered with excellent special effects. Portrayed with a deliberate absence of "heroics", these courageous men are shown to be normal men doing extraordinarily brave things with a workmanlike and professional attitude. They master their fear and fly and die with understated dignity and strength. Watching them felt like witnessing the real deal. Men die by accident and just plain bad luck; and, their friends have little time to grieve, but must suit-up and go up against the enemy again. The love story develops accidentally and with the logical "illogic" that is love. It is told simply without histrionics, yet the feelings, though muted, are real and powerful. Told in flashback from the horror and ultimate injustice of these heroes having been imprisoned by the Communists on their return to Czechoslavakia after the war, the film ultimately is about friendship and comradeship that survives all the tests that human relationships can be put through. It is an excellent film, but it's low key tone and telling dictates that it misses that final emotional tug that would have made it a classic. 4-1/2 stars. A worthy entry.
Rating:
Summary: a tender masterpiece
Review: Courage, friendship, wartime heroism...all the finest qualities of mankind are contrasted with the cruelty of the Nazi and Soviet occupations of Czechoslovakia in this WWII story of Czech fighter pilots who escaped the Nazi invasion to serve in England, and it is told in flashback from an airman who returns to his homeland, and is jailed and tortured by the Soviets, who took over and finished the job of crushing the Czech people when the Nazis were defeated.
The aerial photography is superb, and anyone interested in early fighter planes will love this film; cinematographer Vladimir Smutny is also masterful in the interior shots, with their ambiance of the late '30s-early '40s, and in capturing the picturesque English countryside. There is a gentleness to the story despite the violence of the war, and director Jan Sverak manages to touch every emotion during the course of this 112 minute film. It is brilliantly directed as well as acted, and the two male leads, Ondrej Vetchy (Franta) and Krystof Hadek (Karel), make their parts into living beings, and we laugh and cry with them.
Others of note are Tara Fitzgerald (Susan), Charles Dance (Commander Bentley), and Linda Rybova (Hanicka), and in the small part of an English teacher, Anna Massey puts in a memorable performance.
Inspiring, deeply moving, very human, this is a film that gets better with repeated viewing, and is one to own and treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant Hindsight of War Memories...
Review: Dark Blue World depicts the story of Franta (Ondrej Vetchý), an officer of the Czechoslovakian air force, that has been imprisoned after having served for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in their fight against the Nazi's during World War II. When Franta returned to his motherland after the war the Russian communists had occupied the country and fear that those who fought with the Brits would once more fight for freedom lead the communists to lock them all up in prison, or so called labor camps. Franta was confined to one of these labor camps where the prison captain was a rough thug that seemed to take pleasure in tormenting and beating up the inmates. The prison captain was uncaring of any health issues as he merely demanded the men to work while encouraging them to work by letting them know that the only way of escaping his presence was by the cart that carries out the dead. Delirious in a high fever, Franta ultimately passes out as he is brought to the infirmary where he recovers under the hand of a former SS-officer while pondering over his past transgressions.
In flashbacks the audience is brought into the past where Franta's memories begin with the moments before the Nazi's occupied Czechoslovakia without bloodshed. The only fighting that Franta faces is from one of his younger flyers, Karel (Krystof Hádek) , who displayed his resentment to the Germans while handing over the keys to the hangar with the planes. Offended and saddened by the event Franta decides to travel wherever he can to fight the Germans as he brings the young Karel with him on a journey that brings both of them to England. In England Franta is assigned a group of Czechoslovakians that spend more time learning English and practicing flying with bicycles as the learn how to fly in group formations than they do flying. This ends up being a little demoralizing as they were in high spirits to get up in the sky and shoot down German Messerschmidts. However, the day arrives when they are allowed to take to the sky, but soon they realize the painful nature of war as people die, people fall in love, and people get hurt.
War brings agony to everyone as people are left in a twilight unknowing whether someone dear is dead or alive. Jan Sverák captures this moment in this film through several characters and their personal lives as they must find a way to continue to strive for something better: peace, freedom, and happiness. In this struggle, which is tremendously wearing on the emotional aspect of mankind, people must grab affection when it is given and nurture it with the best of their ability. One scene that brings the essence of affection to the audience is where Karel mentions that he liked one of the fallen pilots, but never told him. Franta responds that he probably knew as men do not openly display their affection. However, Karel insists that the fallen friend did not know, as he was more annoyed with the dead man's idiosyncrasies, and now he wishes that he would have told him before he died.
Dark Blue World is a poignant cinematic experience much like Jan Sverák's previous film Kolya (1996), which won an Oscar for best foreign film in 1997. However, Dark Blue World does not have the warmth as Kolya did. It is also missing uniqueness as this film has aspects comparable to previous war films such as Battle of Britain (1969), English Patient (1996), Pearl Harbor (2001), and Enemy at the Gates (2001). Nonetheless, the film succeeds in standing on its own feet as it it offers a film event with a wealth of character and wisdom.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Blue World
Review: Dark Blue World is an excellent film. Unlike most offerings in the war film genre it is historically accurate, all the way down to the loss of rank experienced by the Czechs and other members of the Free Forces upon their arrival in the United Kingdom. Both Ondrej Vetchy and Krystoff Hadek turn in brilliant performances, as does Tara Fitzgerald and the other supporting members of the cast.
The film explores an issue that has rarely come to light in the West, the service of men from Occupied Europe in the Armed Forces of the Governments-in-Exile and the brutal treatment, by the Commmunists, of servicemen who fought under British Command during the Second World War.
This, combined with the wonderful cinematography - the dog-fight scenes will make you hold your breath - and the existence of an actual plot, make it a film well worth seeing.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Blue World
Review: Dark blue world is one of the finest foreign war films I seen to date. Everyone involved really seemed to care about the project they were involved in and the result is a very entertaining and for the most part accurate depiction of the side of WWII we very rarely get to see. What we have here is a story of two Czech pilots, Franta and Karel, who upon the occupation of their country decide to jump ship and head for England to enlist in the RAF. Just how they get to England at the end of 1939 remains a mystery, but it suffices to say that many Czechs, Poles and French crossed the Channel to England, in time for the Summer of 1940. The two pilots leave behind their families and loved ones, actually one of the most endearing scenes is where Franta has to leave his beloved dog behind, and are accepted into the foreign ranks of the RAF, where they undergo a series of training scenes, including a brilliant section on learning English and formation flying, on bicycles! They have to contend with sitting around waiting to be called into the Battle of Britain after their training is complete as the RAF were very reluctant to let the Czechs and Poles get involved in "their finest hour". Only when things heated up, where the foreign contingent called in. This leads to the meat of the film, the superbly done battle sequences. This is where the films producers have outdone Hollywood easily. One can feel the cramped condition of the cockpit, the desperate nature of aerial combat and the horror of being shot down. When bullets and cannon fire strike a spitfire in this film you know it. For the most part the two combatants aircraft are represented well. Although the spitfires are mid-war and late-war models and the 109's are Spanish built buchons. But both are effective. The computer animated heinkels are also very well done as are the out-takes from the 1969 film "Battle of Britain", cleaned up and inserted seamlessly into the finished movie. It's during one of these "shooting down" sequences that one of our pilots, Karel, meets Susan played by Tara Fitzgerald. The obligatory love interest. Fitzgerald is a potential war widow, whose husband has been feared lost in the Atlantic, with the Navy. The pilot, the younger of the two, falls instantly for the older woman and becomes besotted by her. This is where the friendship of the two Czech pilot's is severely tested as later the older pilot, Franta, falls for Fitzgerald too who in turn falls in love with him. Complicated.......yeah? The love distraction doesn't really interfere with the run of the film too much and the action sequences more than make up for there lack of pace, but I'm I the only person whose sick of filmmakers dispersing petty love stories into war movies? They usually don't work very well. There are flaws though. I would have liked to see more of the Battle of Britain section and the hardships endured by fighter command in the summer of 1940 and the later war years are inserted without any real knowledge of what period of the war we're in. Another technical flaw is the camouflage of the spitfires doesn't change throughout the war, they remain in the 1940 pattern of green and brown when they should have been painted green and gray after 1941. The flashback sequences of Franta, from a Soviet forced-labour camp after the war, doesn't really work as a framing device, but it does introduce us to some interesting characters such as an SS doctor which Slava shares his prison with. The SS doctor is presented as a man and not the usual cardboard nazi monster of Hollywood movies. It's quite refreshing to see. Also at the beginning, the Czech pilots talk about flying to Poland and helping them. However, I very much doubt that any Czechs would have flown North to Poland as antagonisms between Poland and Czechoslovakia were still very strong from the polish seizing of the Teschen region of Czechoslovakia in the late '30s. But the flaws are small when placed into the whole film and only someone with an above average interest in World War II will notice them. There is one problem with DVD presentation of the film though. It's to do with the subtitling of the movie itself. The DVD will allow you to have the subtitles either on or off, in other words the English captions are onscreen even when the English speaking characters are speaking English. This can be very annoying and very distracting. Its also quite lazy of the DVD's manufacturer as the English captions can easily be turned off when English is being spoken onscreen. Overall, if you like war movies and especially war movies based on aircraft and air warfare, then you will like "Dark blue world". It certainly blows some recent war movies out of the water and is entertaining in its own right. The subject matter is one you will probably not see onscreen again and the 1940 atmosphere is presented perfectly, as is the difficulties in trying to blend foreign volunteers into a generally mono-ethnic combat force. The acting from everyone concerned is spot-on and Charles Dance fits in as an airfield commander.
Rating:
Summary: A good effort
Review: Dark Blue World provided me with an enjoyable nights entertainment on DVD. While the DVD lacked any outstanding features the movie was very worthwhile. We don't see that many World War 2 aerial combat movies these days and it was refreshing to see something other than infantry slogging it out, with the usual distorted view as to who actually won the war for the allies. The aerial combat scenes were excellent, though they tended to be too realistic in that they were decided a little too quick for this viewers liking. Having the movie spoken in the correct language was fantastic and the sub titles didn't bother me at all, it all added to the atmosphere. The romantic side of the story makes it appealing for both genders and the story line in general was absorbing. Overall a very good movie.
Rating:
Summary: Would've been a monster hit if it weren't a "foreign movie"
Review: How do movies as impeccable as this miss the radar of critics and pop studios? Are people so averse to subtitles? Some reviewers (very unfairly) compare this movie to the insipid Pearl Harbour because of a love triangle plot, but that is about all I can think of in terms of parallels. Yes, broadly speaking, this masterpiece pivots around a close relationship that develops between a flying instructor Slama and his junior protegee Karel during the 1940s -- mentor and mentee -- a bond that even a shared love interest fails to break. This could have easily gone down the trodden path, ending up in a hackneyed mushy lovestory with bereaved hearts and skipped beats. Not under Sverak's aegis. For one thing, unlike Pearl Harbour, the love angle is integral to the movie and tightly intertwined with the narrative. A la "The English Patient". The woman in question happens to be married (with a husband who's MIA) and this makes it just that bit more interesting. The cinematography is breathtaking, including some of the best fighter-jet combat sequences you'll see on screen with vintage aircraft (there should have been more of these!) and some in-prison ruthlessness that may leave you squeamish. British accents are occasionally suspect (reminder: Czech movie) but easily glossed over. The splendid soundtrack itself begs a special mention -- if you have seen Kolya, the music is comparably moving. But what makes this marvel of a movie immemorable is its non-Hollywood ending. Without giving away too much, it is a stirring close that confirms that the basic tenets of humanism run deep even amidst the throes of war. Nothing melodramatic, but deeply moving. If you care about a well told story that screams 'Masterpiece', this is required viewing.
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