This movie received many awards in the local (Czech national) competition, but in just about any category I can think of, it is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
Camera: It is called "In the shadow" and indeed, 80% of the time you are straining to see who and what are where on the set - there is no light. It is apparently intentional, but in a criminal story it just does not work.
There are too many shadowy men in coats and hats; one is a 'good guy' who is killed in the end, the others are colleagues and STB (Czech KGB) agents, but half of the time you are required to guess which one is which in the scenes.
The historical context and plot are just not believable. It should be 1953 in Czechoslovakia, 5 years after the Communist coup and 2 years after the biggest show-trial (see Slánský_trial on wikipedia). Everybody knew in 1953 that the legal system was just being used to murder whomever STB/KGB wanted to murder. This was not really hidden, because the show trials were intended to intimidate the population. All the complex shenanigans in film make no sense. They did not need fake testimony etc., etc. The call mentioned in the other review was not to stop the exchange (and the border with West Germany did not look like that). In short, if you really know your history, the movie just does not ring true; it's contrived.
Camera: It is called "In the shadow" and indeed, 80% of the time you are straining to see who and what are where on the set - there is no light. It is apparently intentional, but in a criminal story it just does not work.
There are too many shadowy men in coats and hats; one is a 'good guy' who is killed in the end, the others are colleagues and STB (Czech KGB) agents, but half of the time you are required to guess which one is which in the scenes.
The historical context and plot are just not believable. It should be 1953 in Czechoslovakia, 5 years after the Communist coup and 2 years after the biggest show-trial (see Slánský_trial on wikipedia). Everybody knew in 1953 that the legal system was just being used to murder whomever STB/KGB wanted to murder. This was not really hidden, because the show trials were intended to intimidate the population. All the complex shenanigans in film make no sense. They did not need fake testimony etc., etc. The call mentioned in the other review was not to stop the exchange (and the border with West Germany did not look like that). In short, if you really know your history, the movie just does not ring true; it's contrived.