Kolya
Opening on March 27 at Dendy Cinemas
Review by Margaret Allan
The latest film to come out of the former Czechoslovakia is set in the 1989 "Velvet Revolution", in which the characters play out a charming story of the relationship between a middle-aged Czech man and a young Russian child called Kolya.
Frantisek Louka (played by Zdenek Sverak, who also wrote the screenplay and is the father of the director), is a former cellist with the Czech Philharmonic orchestra and a confirmed bachelor. When Louka embarks on an arranged marriage to a young Russian woman seeking Czech citizenship, he doesn't bargain on also inheriting responsibility for her five-year-old son, Kolya.
After losing his position in the orchestra for insulting a government bureaucrat, Louka is reduced to playing music at funerals, with a bit of headstone renovation work on the side. Given his increasing financial difficulties and yearning for a Trabant car, Louka agrees to the bogus marriage for a handsome payment. What he doesn't realise is that his life is about to change dramatically.
Within a few days of the wedding, his new wife leaves the country to be with her West German boyfriend, leaving Kolya in the custody of her mother. But when Kolya's grandmother dies suddenly, and he is left in the care of his only relative by marriage, Louka.
Reluctantly at first, Louka becomes used to fatherhood. The film centres on the relationship that develops between him and the very cute Kolya, whose language he does not speak.
Gradually, a strong bond forms between them, and when a social worker threatens to send Kolya back to the Soviet Union to be placed in institutional care, Louka realises that he is not prepared to lose his new son.
Finally, however, politics intervene. With the collapse of Stalinist rule, Kolya's mother is allowed to re-enter the country and reclaim him. Mercifully, this saves the film from a typical Hollywood-style ending.
Kolya is the most mainstream of the movies directed by Jan Sverak, whose past work has been nominated for an Academy Award and won awards at the Venice Film Festival.
It unashamedly relies on the endearing qualities of its young Russian star, Andrej Chalimon, and some scenes are extremely sugar laden. While Louka's sexism is often difficult to take, the film is nevertheless very enjoyable. Kolya has been extremely popular with Czech audiences, smashing box office records since its premiere screening in Prague last May.
The development of the relationship between Louka and Kolya has been described as an allegory for the emergence of the Czech republic after the "Velvet Revolution" of November 1989 — a new beginning.
Shooting of the film started five years after the end of Soviet rule and on the 27th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
The film's producer, London-based Eric Abraham, says: "In a sense, the film is a wonderful metaphor for the broader political situation in the Czech Republic. It is about two individuals who are thrown together and, against an age gap and nationality gap, must learn to live and love together."
Kolya is full of good acting performances. The original music by composer Ondrej Soukup is beautiful and liberally interspersed with compositions by the brilliant Czech composer Antonin Dvorak.