Josef Cizek: Boleslav Polivka	Marie Cizek: Anna Siskova
David Weiner: Csongor Kassai	Horst Prohazka: Jaroslav Dusek
Libuse: Simona Stasova	Albrecht: Martin Huba
SS Officer: Vladimir Marek	Director: Jan Hrebejk

30 Second Bottom Line: During WWII a Czech couple harbors the Jewish son of a former employer, at great risk to themselves, the young man and their neighbors.

Story Line: Based upon a true story, Divided We Fall tells the story of Josef and Marie Cizek, a childless couple trying to go along to get along with the German occupiers of their village. The Nazi's have stolen the property of the Jews living in the area and sent them off to death camps. A close friend of theirs is Horst Prohazka, a fellow Slav who works for the Germans. The relationship is complicated by the fact that Horst has fallen out of love with his German wife and is sexually attracted to Marie.

Josef and Marie decide to hide David Weiner, the son of Josef's former employer and a friend, when Josef finds him wandering the streets of the village after his escape from a concentration camp. He is concealed in a secret storage room and they become paranoid when Horst begins to make unannounced visits.

After Marie vehemently rebuffs Horst's sexual advances, he seeks revenge by having them provide a room for a Nazi officer who is distraught after the death of his son in the war. Marie says that is not possible because she is pregnant and they need the room for the new baby. Josef, however, has just returned from a clinic where it was confirmed that the reason Marie has never become pregnant is because he is sterile. Josef decides that the only way out of their predicament is to find a way for Marie to become pregnant.

Under the watchful eye of the neighbor Libuse, Josef and Marie fall out of favor in the area because of visits to their home by Horst and an SS Officer being friendly to Josef. Will they be able to keep their secrets and if Marie is to have a baby, who will be the father?

Tell Me More About It: Entertainment Weekly describes this film as "…an elegant black comedy about an odd couple who get caught up in the WWII intrigue of 1943 Czechoslovakia." While I tend to agree with their rating of A-, this film is anything but a comedy, black or otherwise. There are things to smile about and to be happy for, but chuckles and laughs are not what the movie is about. When you do laugh, it's with total fear. This is not Czechoslovakian Beauty.

Divided We Fall reminds me of other strong films about persecution in Europe, such as Sunshine and East-West. Those films are more epic in the scope of things but this movie is more personal, in that it focuses on the life of a family with viewpoints that we've not seen before. Jewish persecution during WWII is usually seen from their point of view. Here, we see that in addition to stories of others caught up in that time and place. They might be German Nazis, or Slavic collaborators who side with the Germans rather than the Jews because that is what they feel they must to do to survive.

We see the human side of an SS Officer when Josef first helps him repair his car at a remote roadside and later when the officer makes a joke when Josef is at a clinic to have his sperm count tested. The SS Officer was human but still a devil when it came to his views of Jews.

To encourage the Slavs to cooperate and not protect Jews, if one person is caught helping a Jew, the entire neighborhood is punished; their children are shot. On one hand, the Slavs work with the Germans but on the other, it's a fertile setting to begin an underground resistance.

The personal nature of the film makes for a riveting story that commands your attention. The ending of the movie is powerful because it is frightening and joyful at the same time. Those were awful times and it was not that long ago. If we are to have peace in the world, we must continue to be reminded of our history so we do not become complacent and let the forces of evil come anywhere close to repeating events of this nature. The concept of all men being created equal is fundamental to one group or race never being able to conclude that others deserve to be treated any way other than as they expect to be treated. This Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film is one that should not be missed.