Statistically speaking, there's a very good chance that any European Oscar-nominee for Best Foreign Language Film from the past 20 years features Nazis. Sure enough, here they are in 2003's nominee Zelary , swarming all over Prague, forcing cosmopolitan medical student/resistance member Eliska (Ana Geislerova) to run for the hills, literally. Hiding out in the titular Czech mountain town, where the 20th century never happened, the city girl becomes her own country cousin, taking on the persona of "Hana," and marrying--strictly for the cover it provides--the simple, earthy Joza (Gyorgy Cserhalmi). Director Ondrej Trojan treats his true-story-inspired material directly and honestly while eschewing all sentimentality, but we've seen this tale too many times to find much here that is surprising or enlightening. Eliska's stubborn urban snobbishness is worn down by the raw sincerity of the rugged rural folk, naturally, and she inevitably comes to genuinely love the man she married out of convenience. Can you guess whether she also thaws to the breathtaking beauty of sweeping alpine vistas? Of course you can. Optional. (M. Johanson)
Zelary
Sony, 148 min., in Czech, Russian & German w/English subtitles, R, DVD: $29.95, Feb. 8 Volume 20, Issue 2
Zelary
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