Dark Blue World
| Dark Blue World | |
|---|---|
Australian DVD Cover
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| Directed by | Jan Svěrák |
| Produced by | Eric Abraham |
| Written by | Zdeněk Svěrák |
| Starring |
Ondřej Vetchý Kryštof Hádek Tara FitzGerald Oldřich Kaiser Charles Dance |
| Music by | Ondřej Soukup |
| Cinematography | Vladimír Smutný |
| Edited by | Alois Fišárek |
| Distributed by | Columbia TriStar Film Distributors (media worldwide) |
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Release date
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17 May 2001 (Czech Republic) 13 November 2001 (United Kingdom) |
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Running time
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115 minutes |
| Country | Czech Republic United Kingdom |
| Language | Czech English German Slovak |
| Budget | € 8 million |
| Box office | $2,300,000 (Worldwide) |
Dark Blue World (Czech: Tmavomodrý svět) is a 2001 film by Czech director Jan Svěrák, the Academy Award-winning director of Kolya, about Czech pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. The screenplay was written by Zdeněk Svěrák, the director's father. The film stars Czech actors Ondřej Vetchý, Kryštof Hádek and Oldřich Kaiser. British actors include Tara Fitzgerald, Charles Dance and Anna Massey.
In 1950, during the Cold War, František (Franta) Sláma (Ondřej Vetchý) is incarcerated in Czechoslovakia, because of his prior service in the RAF. His recollections of the war begin in 1939, just days prior to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the invasion, the Czechoslovakian military is disbanded and has to give up its aircraft. However, young pilots Franta and his friend Karel Vojtíšek (Kryštof Hádek), among others, refuse to submit to their occupiers and flee to the United Kingdom to join the RAF.
The British make the Czechoslovaks retrain from the basics, which infuriates them, especially Karel, who is both impatient to fight the Germans and humiliated at being retaught what he already knows. Karel also sees the compulsory English language lessons as a pointless waste of his time.
The RAF is in such a dire need of pilots during the Battle of Britain that eventually the Czech and Slovak airmen are allowed to fly, and after their first sortie, they realise why the British have trained them so intensely: a young Czechoslovak nicknamed "Tom Tom" is shot down by a Messerschmitt Bf 109. Franta becomes the unit commander, with the younger Karel under his charge.
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Wikipedia