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Movies / On DVD / Divided We Fall
Divided We Fall

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Divided We Fall (2001)

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90 %
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Reviews Counted: 61

Fresh: 55

Rotten:6

Average Rating: 7.3/10

Consensus: Divided We Fall takes a complex look at World War II, skillfully balancing humor and gravity.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some violence and sexual content

Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Jun 8, 2001 Limited

Synopsis: This dramatic story of a hero against his will is set in a small Czech town occupied by German forces during the last years of the Second World War. Josef and Marie Cizek are a childless couple.... This dramatic story of a hero against his will is set in a small Czech town occupied by German forces during the last years of the Second World War. Josef and Marie Cizek are a childless couple. She yearns for a baby, but unfortunately her husband is sterile. By chance one day they come across a young Jewish man named David, and they offer him refuge in their home. From that moment they begin a dramatic fight for survival. To divert the attention of the German authorities and thereby protect the whole street from the danger of execution, the couple becomes more and more entangled with the representatives of power and arbitrary rule. To make matters worse, Czech-German Horst Prohaska, a Nazi collaborator, often comes to see Marie, and his frequent visits increase the danger of David being discovered. During one tragicomic scene, Marie sternly refuses the repeated advances of this unsavory parasite, and Prohaska decides to take revenge on the Cizeks. He plans to move a Nazi official, Albrecht Kepke, into the room the Cizeks had planned for their own child. To prevent this from happening, Cizek persuades his wife to become pregnant by their hidden fugitive. In this rather paradoxical way, David repays his debt to those who have saved his life. The story culminates in May 1945 when the baby is about to be born. The family is once again threatened-this time by self-appointed judges and those who want to punish Nazi collaborators. In the closing, bizarrely absurd scene a strange gathering of Fates stands around the new-born child: a Czech soldier who fought in the Soviet Union, a Russian front-line soldier, a Slovak partisan, the Jewish refugee David, the Czech-German Horst Prohaska and Cizek, the new 'father' and hero against his will. . . . Divided We Fall is a black comedy full of unexpected twists which tells a tale of heroes motivated by compassion, of decent people and traitors, of apathetic passivity and the thirst for life. In this story based on real events, lives are saved for a wide variety of (sometimes controversial) reasons, and all the main characters manage to survive. Here, heroism and collaboration, generosity and cowardice overlap, making it difficult, if not impossible, to pass categorical judgments. -- © 2001 Czech TV [More]

Starring: Bolek Polivka, Csonger Kassai, Jaroslav Dusek, Anna Siskova

Starring: Bolek Polivka, Csonger Kassai, Jaroslav Dusek, Anna Siskova

Director: Jan Hrebejk

Director: Jan Hrebejk
Screenwriter: Petr Jarchovsky
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Nov 27, 2001

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Reviews for Divided We Fall

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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"Divided We Fall" is a vital reminder of the kinds of dramatic choices made by millions of peopled victimized by Nazis and traitors in a war that was fought at all costs.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
05/20/09
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
04/27/07
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

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Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

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Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
02/24/04
Film Threat

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Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marrit Ingman
Austin Chronicle

Manages to be funny and touching without ever resorting to schmaltz.

Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | comment Comment
02/13/03
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
10/21/02
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan
N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/02/02
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
N/R

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Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
06/10/02
Guardian [UK]
N/R

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Full Review Source: FilmFour.com | comment Comment
06/04/02
FilmFour.com

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Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/23/02
Jamie Russell
BBC
N/R

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Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
03/03/02
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

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Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
02/09/02
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com
N/R

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Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
01/22/02
Peter Rainer
New York Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
12/08/01
Susan Stark
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Just when you think you've seen all the World War II films you can handle, one comes along that leaves you in awe.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/06/01
Rachel Gordon
Filmcritic.com

The comic elements are handled with a delicacy so that they do not overwhelm the dramatic underpinnings.

Full Review Source: Baseline.Hollywood.com | comment Comment
12/04/01
Ted Murphy
Baseline.Hollywood.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
10/12/01
Kim Linekin
eye WEEKLY

As with the films of Emir Kusturica, whose characters also resist easy analysis, the people in Divided We Fall are completely and wonderfully human.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
10/08/01
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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