SLIFF 2010 Review: THE COUNTRY TEACHER

Review Originally published on August 21, 2009.

I’m often surprised by a film that doesn’t look very good once I see it and realize it’s better than I had imagined. On the other hand, some films have the opposite effect, luring me in and then disappointing me on some level. THE COUNTRY TEACHER isn’t bad, but it did sort of effect me on this level, ultimately leaving me with an underwhelming aftertaste that overpowers the film’s promising start.

Written and directed by Bohdan Slama, THE COUNTRY TEACHER (Venkovsky ucitel) tells the story of an over-qualified school teacher (Pavel Liska) who leaves a classy prep school job in Prague for a position teaching children in a small rural school. Upon his very arrival, the principal of the school himself is telling him that he won’t last and that the students are uninterested and hopeless. Despite the negative introduction, The Teacher (whom goes nameless in the film) remains on staff and actually begins to connect with his young students with his own informal, non-traditional teaching methods.

One of the most interesting elements of the story and The Teacher’s character is in watching him teach the students. He has a way of making whatever subject he is teaching fascinating. This approach comes from the character’s deep and powerful appreciation and respect for nature and how we’re interconnected with it’s workings. The Teacher often incorporates this idea into his lessons, and we later find out these feelings of his also manifest themselves as an attempt by the character to make sense of his own life.

Roughly the first half of the film is intriguing, setting up a bit of mystery about The Teacher while also encouraging the audience to like the character. The Teacher grows on us, giving us hope for his students while also causing us to feel a bit of pity for him as we learn about the unfortunate end to his last relationship. The Teacher ends up bunking at Marie’s (Zuzana Bydzovska) house, a slightly older woman whose had a rough life, surviving an abusive, alcoholic relationship and working herself to the bone on the family farm. Her son is dating a smarter girl, but has no drive for learning himself, until Marie asks The Teacher to help him study.

The mystery of the character develops in two forms. First, there’s the curious desire to find out why he left such a prestigious teaching job at a prep school in Prague and secondly, there’s a clearly nervous nature, an uneasiness about The Teacher that he displays whenever he’s around other adults. This character trait initially comes off as being a sort of neurotic disposition, a uncomfortable shyness, but the truth behind The Teacher’s current choices is eventually revealed.

The Teacher has a secret and it’s a secret he feels could jeopardize everything for him, as he attempts to rebuild his life in this small, rural Czechoslovakian town. The people of the town are rural folk, but wise in their own way. Some of them are a bit eccentric, many of them drink profusely, but Marie is perhaps the most intriguing character. Her face displays the hardship she’s endured and her emotions are worn on her sleeve, despite her efforts to keep them to herself. Succumbing to loneliness, Marie even makes an advance on The Teacher, despite the repetitive attempts of intimacy from a local man more her age who drinks too much.

As I said before, THE COUNTRY TEACHER begins well enough, but ultimately left me disappointed. The way in which The Teacher’s secret is revealed seemed a bit sudden, but I suppose that’s the way it often happens in real life. However, what bothered me more than anything was the ease with which Slama wrote forgiveness and acceptance into the script. There isn’t enough depth and realism written into this crucial part of the story to come off as believable, or even respectable.

Aside from the flaw in the story itself, THE COUNTRY TEACHER is technically well-shot but it has no visual style to call it’s own. It’s a straight-forward piece of visual storytelling with the cinematography of National Geographic. This story would have been benefited greatly from a more cinema verite style, emphasizing the reality of The Teacher’s world and the mental anguish and heartache he is experiencing. As it is, THE COUNTRY TEACHER ends up feeling a bit more like a soap opera and the ending loses it’s strength.

All around, THE COUNTRY TEACHER is far from being the worst movie of the year. There’s still plenty to be appreciated about the film, including Bydzovska’s performance as Marie and even Liska does a good job. The film features some absolutely exquisite, and sad, music that The Teacher listens to frequently. This is a film that some will enjoy and others may find controversial, but it’s a decent attempt nonetheless at tackling a touchy story, despite it’s shortcomings.

THE COUNTRY TEACHER will play during the 19th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival on Saturday, November 13th at 3:45 pm and on Monday, November 15th at 4:30 pm at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.