Zelary
Release Date:
September 17, 2004
Limited release
In a mid-1940s Czechlosovokia where the lands are occupied by Nazis, a young woman named Eliska finds herself unable to finish medical school because the Germans have closed the universities. Instead, she works as a nurse in a city hospital and becomes involved in the Resistance movement with the surgeon Richard, who is also her lover, and also their friend Dr. Chldek.
When a seriously injured man from a rural mountain area is brought into the hospital one evening in need of a transfusion, it turns out that Eliska is the only one with a matching blood type. In the end, her blood saves his life and sets into motion a connection between them. The relationship grows as the friends counterbalance each other quite positively - Eliska's urbane, sophisticated and educated mind sets off Joza's salt of the earth tendencies quite nicely.
Suddenly, the resistance group is discovered and its members are being sought out be the Gestapo. Richard flees the country overnight, leaving his lover Eliska alone, though other members of the Resistance assist her in finding a place to hide. They ask Joza, the man she saved, to harbor her at his mountain cabin. Eliska must leave her cosmopolitan life and transform into a new personality - Hana, the wife of a mountain man and resident of a timeless mountain village called Zelary. The conflict between her two very different lives makes up the central theme of the film.
Zelary was one of the Academy Award nominees for Best Foreign Language Film in 2004, coming in as runner-up to the Canadian Barbarian Invasions. (Kim Hollis/BOP)
Vital statistics for Zelary |
Main Cast |
Anna Geislerova, Gyorgy Cserhalmi, Jaroslava Adamova |
Supporting Cast |
Miroslav Donutil, Jaroslav Dusek, Iva Bittova, Ivan Trojan, Jan Hrusinsky, Anna Vertelarova, Tomas Zatecka, Ondrej Koval, Tatiana Vajdova, Frantisek Velecky, Viera Pavlikova, Juraj Hrcka |
Director |
Ondrej Trojan |
Screenwriter |
Kveta Legatova, Petr Jarchovsky |
Distributor |
Sony Pictures Classics |
Trailer |
Click Here for Trailer
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Official Site |
http://www.sonyclassics.com/comingsoon.php?filmid=81&page=1 |
Rating |
R |
Running Time |
148 minutes |
Screen Count |
6 |
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Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture |
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