Svejk, a derék katona

No matter what the original is, and I admit that I still haven't read it, the film "Good Soldier Švejk" presents absolutely great characters, an excellent plot, interesting twists, and, moreover, humor that couldn't be matched by ten current comedies combined. It's not about a cheesy joke every second, but about each joke being well constructed and hitting the mark. Additionally, here you can recognize the beginnings of many legendary Czech actors, or rather, you truly get to know them when they were young. This is simply the golden treasure of Czech cinematography, which I have successfully avoided for a long time. (2014.01.28)

Švejk, played by Rudolf Hrušínský, is an adorable Czech schnitzel with rather poor mental potential at first glance, but unlike Hašek’s Švejk, he lacks that subtlety in inconspicuously mocking the authorities and undermining the seriousness of the war. Steklý simply presents Švejk as a great humanist and a man of the people, but in my opinion the book Švejk is basically elusive in physical form. What we see on the screen is not Hašek’s Švejk, but Lada's Švejk. Hašek’s Švejk is unique in that it is not the story of one person, but of the whole war in all its bizarreness and absurdity. That's where the film fails. Enough chatter. From a comedy point of view, this film has everything important – great acting performances (Kopecký and especially Marvan!), good dialogues and the appropriate momentum. I don't think it could have been acted any better, but I always prefer to reach for Hašek's book, which is just one dimension richer... (2004.02.01)