The anticipated and anticipated third film by Jiří Mádl, which evoked emotional reactions and ovations at this year’s film festivals, is finally entering regular cinemas. It tells about the employees of the foreign editorial office of the Czechoslovak Radio, who fought tirelessly for freedom during the events of the Prague Spring and during the invasion in 1968, and almost lost more than her in the process.
Waves (photo: Bontonfilm)
The magic of cutting
From the very first shots, it’s clear that Mádl has a peep. Shots of demonstrating students are interspersed with armed policemen in an effective montage. The camera flies dynamically, but the fast cut always remembers where the viewer’s eye last fell, so the scene is perfectly clear. Meanwhile, while the protestors clash with public safety outside, our hero is at home on the stove preparing dinner. But the restlessness in it is obviously similar to that in the streets, and the film tries to convey tension and urgency successfully. Anyway, with the protest and the toast, it’s going to end up pretty dark.
Genre girl
We have reached a time when period films are made by filmmakers who do not personally remember the period. As for the depiction of communist atrocities, Waves but they are riding the wave of what we have already witnessed in similar films a few times. However, this does not detract from their emotionality, and scenes of Esteban bullying and Russian gluttony will reliably lift the viewer from their seats regardless of how many times he’s met them on screen.
It is impossible not to see the parallels between communist censorship of the media and the current situation, for example, in Slovakia, or between the Soviets liberating poor neighbors from fascism and the current events in Ukraine. But the creators do not accentuate this political commentary, rather they let it speak for itself. They focus on the daily heroism of the individual editors in the events during and before the occupation, and their efforts not to bow their heads and broadcast until the last possible moment as a Hollywood-style spy thriller.
This is certainly not an easy task, even standards of journalistic films like Spotlight sometimes they struggled with how adrenaline and the mission of this job fun and dynamic capture. Waves is doing very well, not only thanks to the backdrop of street fighting during August 1968, but also thanks to a series of formal elections.
This approach entails everything we love about Hollywood… even its ills. Waves are an honest beater who it looks and sounds sexy, it can thrill and entertain. However, the effort to condense the narrative and historical events into a pop form pleasing to the audience inevitably carries with it a certain brevity, a drop of pathos or some formal choices that seem to be there mainly for effect.
Journalist Avengers
Mádl’s screenplay skilfully built the events around the international editorial office of Rozhlas around a reasonable number of characters so that the viewer can identify with them. Even so, some of them would a bit more space would have been nice. In the case of some motivations, and especially one key betrayal, maybe even a single sentence or minute would be enough to make them seem more detailed, understandable or clear. The editors, however fantastically played, with the exception of the characters of Stanislav Majer and Martin Hofmann, seem a bit interchangeable.
Even though the arc of his character in the context of real figures and events seems slightly twisted, the film’s protagonist, a fictional technician played by the perfect Vojtěch Vodochodský, naturally carries the most nuances. Even some of his secondary lines, such as the consequences of forced delivery on colleagues, would, however deserved to be looked at in more detail.
Waves (photo: Bontonfilm)
Anyone who doesn’t cry is not a Czech
The occupation scenes are in Waves captivating without exaggeration, however the mentioned pathos is almost omnipresent in them. But if you switch your inner cynic to stand-by mode for at least those two watches, it won’t do any harm. On the contrary. A certain mythicization of historical events is part of all great stories, and how beautifully so Waves they can wake up an unadulterated sense of national pride and emotion in a country where only gold in any sports championship can do something like this, the added value of the film is very valuable. Certainly more valuable than discussing whether anyone would actually listen to the radio in a church during the occupation and how much kitsch it is.
Lower the needle
Mádl’s work with image and sound is precise and fresh by domestic standards. They are audiovisual Waves unadulterated banger. The sound design ranks among the absolute top, the original music from the pen of the British genius Simon Goff successfully emulates the pulsating soundtracks of Hans Zimmer, the camera of the proven Martin Žiaran is unmistakably wave looking from the most flattering angle. The patina of the physical film strip suits the film, and it’s fun to watch the transitions from archive footage to new ones, which are so sensitive and non-violent that the eye of many viewers may not even register them.
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Waves (2024)
Waves are the beating heart of a Hollywood cut with all that goes with it. It has the fall, the tension, the perfect actor, looks and sounds flawless. However, the script is a bit abbreviated for the sake of comprehensibility of the story, while elaborating on some secondary lines and characters could have significantly added emotion to it. Regardless of that, however, there is a good amount of Czech Lions and Jiří Mádl’s position as one of the most interesting and playful Czech directors is an undoubted certainty.
Martin Mažári, Totalfilm.cz
photo/video: Bontonfilm, Totalfilm Media, Dawson Films © 2024
Waves
Premiere: August 15, 2024 Bontonfilm
Drama / Thriller
Czech Republic, 2024, 131 min
Direction: Jiří Mádl
Screenplay: Jiří Mádl
Camera: Martin Žiaran
Music: Simon Goff
They play: Vojtěch Vodochodský, Táňa Pauhofová, Stanislav Majer, Vojtěch Kotek, Martin Hofmann, Tomáš Mastalír, Igor Bareš, Marika Šoposká, Petr Lněnička
