Kolya

KOLYA (KOLJA) (15)

D: Jan Sverak

Miramax / Pandora Cinema / Ceska Televize / CinemArt / Portobello / Space (Eric Abraham & Jan Sverak)

Czech Republic 🇨🇿 1996

111 mins

Drama

W: Jan Sverak

DP: Vladimir Smutny

Ed: Alois Fisarek

Mus: Ondrej Soukup

Zdenek Svarek (Frantisek Louka), Andrey Khalimon (Kolya), Libuse Safrankova (Klara), Ondrej Vetchy (Mr. Broz)

The Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film of 1996 really could be considered amongst the best films of the year, and certainly finds itself in my top 20 of 1996.

The film follows the plight of Frantisek Louka, a middle-aged cellist living in Soviet-occupied Prague in the late 1980s. Blacklisted by the authorities for being “politically unreliable”, he mostly spends his time playing at funerals.  He reluctantly agrees to a sham marriage to a Russian woman as an opportunity to make money, but is left stuck with the woman’s 5-year-old son, Kolya, when she uses her newly-acquired citizenship to emigrate to West Germany, where her boyfriend lives.

Initially, Louka finds it difficult to bond with Kolya due to language issues, but eventually becomes a patriarchal figure to the young boy.

It’s a heartwarming drama with excellent performances from the two male leads, old and young, set against a political backdrop that eventually unfolds for the better, despite the rather sad ending.

7/10