The life destiny of the four-time Olympic winner Emil Zátopek is an excellently written and filmed story of immense determination, perseverance, diligence and the desire to win.
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The story of a man who, although originally an outsider, reached the highest sports goals and became once and for all one of the most prominent representatives of his country. At the same time, he remained in the best sense an ordinary man who had his strengths and weaknesses, he was not a born hero, but in tense moments he was able to stand up bravely for his views.
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Wedding in the film Zátopek
Photo: Falcon
Ondříček and co-writer Alice Nellis set the focus of the narrative until 1968, when Zátopka was visited by Australian runner Ron Clarke, decimated by his failure at the Olympic Games in Mexico. There, at an altitude whose thin air suited the sprinters, but was a disaster for the endurance, he collapsed at the finish line of the top ten and finished sixth. He visited Zátopek to understand the mentality of a man who never wanted to be second, and yet at the end of his sports career he had to deal with failure.
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Zátopek tells him his story in the film, which was a very happy decision for the screenwriter. It made it possible to freely and at the same time naturally choose the periods and fundamental moments of Zátopek’s life that would obviously seem most important to him and at the same time be the mainstay of the film’s narrative.
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We experience the beginnings of Emil’s interest in running, training in the corridors of Baťa’s races, where he worked, his first successes, meeting the future Olympic winner in javelin throwing and his wife Dana, the peak of his career and his departure from fame …
The qualities of Ondříček’s film result from the perfect interconnection of all creative components. It is as if the director is standing broadly over the whole film and with a precise vision he has connected everything into a cohesive solid whole with a great embrace.
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Martha Issová and Václav Neužil as husband and wife Zátopek
Photo: Falcon
Thorough preparation and subsequent brilliant acting performances of the central acting duo of Václav Neužil (Emil) and Martha Issová (Dana) have a high international level.
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He did not perfectly study the style of Zátopek’s run, his speech, gestures and grimaces, his sense of humor, the nature of meeting fans in stadiums and factories. Moments of weakness and heroism, love and arrogance towards his wife, friendship and rivalry with other athletes. He expressed all this so convincingly that even thanks to the seemingly simple but perfect mask, he literally became Zátopek.
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Dana Zátopková
Photo: Profimedia.cz
In emotional scenes, such as the one under the wedding table, Ťopek wins the hearts of the spectators, who then do not leave him even in the moments when he treats Dana extremely selfishly. He is a big fan of the races, even if they know how (especially those at the Helsinki Olympics) will turn out.
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This is, of course, a great deal of credit for the director’s interaction with cinematographer Štěpán Kučera in the filming of the races and the great choreography of the runners, including real top athletes. And when, at the end of the marathon, Zátopek himself runs into the Helsinki stadium, tears of joy and emotion inadvertently shine into his eyes …
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The great acting advantage of Martha Issová is her rich range of facial expressions: often she doesn’t have to speak at all for Emil and the viewer (!) To understand exactly what he wants to say and even what he thinks. In her performance, Dana is full of energy and strength in her sport and no less sensitive in her personal life, which she did not have easy next to Emil, and yet she never stopped loving him. The scene in the mountains, in which it is nothing less than parenthood, is one of the most emotional thanks to Issová’s acting performance.
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Robert Mikluš is also excellent in the very well-written figure of a typical functionary of the 1950s. He could not exceed a friend who wished Zátopek immensely, but the smallness of a man who wanted to thank everyone out of fear. Mikluš plays him moderately, in the spirit of the script he does not caricature the character, but gives a factual message about the man of his time.
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We cannot forget the performance of the Australian actor James Frecheville, who plays Ron Clark exactly as a man who agrees with Zátopek in terms of sports, but cannot understand Czechoslovakia at the time. Even this is expressed without cheap symbols of different worlds, however they may have offered themselves.
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David Ondříček (director), Václav Neužil (Emil Zátopek) and Jan Pernica (running coach of Václav Neužil)
Photo: Lucky Man Films – Julie Vrábelová
Zátopek is a film that Czech cinema has been waiting for a long time. Carefully prepared, thought out and tightened to the smallest detail, with a clear message. Spectator-friendly, similar to Howard’s Rivals. Consistently anchored in a home environment, which only with the top professionalism of all components is wrapped in a Hollywood-attractive style.
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Rating: 100%
Zátopek
Czechia 2021, 131 min.
Directed by: David Ondříček, starring: Václav Neužil, Martha Issová, James Frecheville, Robert Mikluš, Štěpán Kozub and others.
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