Calamity

I have never really understood the enthusiasm that film critics and reviewers have for Věra Chytilová. I could never relate to her work and to some extent, her social views, activism, and feminism annoy me. I did a little recap of her and I would only be willing to give four stars to two of her films, with The Jester and the Queen being basically just a film adaptation of a play where Chytilová's personal contribution is not significant. Calamity is one of those films that leaves me indifferent. The screenplay is oddly fragmented, and the characters are mostly just figurines that Chytilová uses for some lines or pseudo-joke. The dialogues are downright forced. Thinking about it, even two stars are quite generous for the emotions that Chytilová prepared for me. Perhaps the biggest contribution is simply the presence of some prominent faces from Czechoslovak cinema of the 70s. Bolek Polívka is undoubtedly a very talented actor and comedian, but it is generally true that he needs stronger direction, and Chytilová couldn't quite handle him here. Overall impression: 40%. (2015-08-25)

In Chytilová’s film, a new wave resonates in the faces shaky dialogues and a very loose composition of scenes, which eventually gets a metaphorical and impressive finish in the form of a train buried by an avalanche. It is the motif of calamity that echoes from all episodes, the impenetrability of human relationships, misunderstanding, passing in a blizzard of feelings and insensitivity. Polívka's portrayal of a young man who is between different women is not particularly riveting, but especially excellent dialogues and apt cynicism, which gradates excellently, makes this miniature of normalizing rot a great film. Chytilová avoided many ailments of the "social-critical comedy" of the 1980s, especially the palpable undertone that, while everything sucks, we still live in the best possible setting. Calamity remains on the intimate plane and does not comment on anything "higher". That's why it's still alive. (2003-11-14)

Calamity would not have been half as good without the excellent Bolek Polívka. From my point of view, it is he and he alone who constantly drives the film forward and who makes the viewer wonder what will happen next. Not a bunch of weird characters with all sorts of problems, not a critique of society... But only the sympathetic locomotive engineer Honza Dostál. I liked the film, yes, but I failed to see it as anything other than Polívka's successful solo (that is, of course, until the train gets stuck, the avalanche falls and the panic during which Bronislav Poloczek, who is slapping the children, starts saying things again). (2012-07-22)

Věra Chytilová should finish studying to whom she gave her last opportunity in front of the film camera. The lady from Brno who played the grandmother with grandchildren in the second half (after the housekeeper Chytilová in the first half) was Marie Pavlíková, the first Czech aviator. (2009-02-17)

If the whole movie was like the last twenty minutes, it would be a great comedy. I originally thought that the plot would revolve around a calamity. The previous 70 minutes were lukewarm, some scenes were perhaps a precursor to The Inheritance and paradoxically, it can be stated that The Inheritance was plagiarizing Calamity in some aspects. If Bronislav Poloczek wasn't an actor, I believe he would be the best butcher. (2016-08-13)