Another in the recent abundance of movies about World War II that mixes a romantic foreground story with a tale of action on the front lines. Although this one does it better than several others, i.e. last year's Pearl Harbor or Charlotte Gray, it still doesn't work extremely well as either. However, Dark Blue World tells a refreshingly different story than the too common Yanks-in-France or Englishmen-in-the-desert. It begins in Czechoslovakia as the Nazis too courteously take over the airstrip in the village that is home to Franta and the young pilot he mentors, Karel.

They leave girlfriends, family, and dogs behind; make their way to England; and offer their piloting services to the allies. There with a group of other Czech pilots they are treated rather condescendingly by the RAF commander (Charles Dance) and do elementary exercises on the ground until they are deemed ready. They are then sent relentlessly on mission after mission.

Unfortunately, the missions are pretty dull, and feel more like practice drills for their lack of excitement. During one of these sorties, Karel bails out of a burning plane and finds himself at the country home of Susan (Tara Fitzgerald), who is looking after a house full of children sent by their parents to escape the blitz in London. Her husband is MIA and she and Karel engage in a brief affair. The romance quickly becomes a triangle with his trusted mentor, Franta. The liaison is handled with subtlety but predictability.

The film works best when it explores, through flashback and flashforward, the post-war treatment suffered by the surviving pilots when they return to Czechoslovakia after the war. Instead of being hailed as returning heroes, they are imprisoned by the brutal communist government now in power there. They have been "contaminated" by spending the war years in the west and cannot be trusted to be good comrades. The cruel irony of the situation and the courage of the fighter pilots ring true, unlike the superficiality and romanticism of the soap opera drama of the love triangle. Although this blend has been done with superior results in others of its genre as in From Here to Eternity, Dark Blue World is for the most part engaging and entertaining. Director Jan Sverak makes a good team with his father, screenwriter Zdenek Sverak, who worked together with greater success on Kolya in 1997. This effort is less satisfying but most definitely worth a look.

Ondrej Vetchy as Franta	Tara Fitzgerald as Susan
Charles Dance as Commander Bentley	Krystof Hadek as Karel Vojtisek
Director: Jan Sverak