REVIEW: Jiří Macháček is a solid Deserter. But he doesn't know why he's deserting

More precisely, only the character of Martin Finger approaches them, namely by the ritual behavior of a staunch anti-communist, played by Jiří Kodet in Pelíšky. It's not so cheerful or captivating, but the actor is not to blame. In terms of script and direction, Dezertér, in which Jiří Macháček, as an old-fashioned and noble owner of a hairdressing salon, appears in the foreground, shows a similar descriptive bounty as the previous part.

Most importantly, however, he has no secrets and does not arouse curiosity, as the era of 1947–1953, together with the distribution slogan "the barber they shaved", reveals practically everything the viewer imagines. Including the International. Paradoxically, the only mystery, that is, the title desertion of the seemingly unbreakable life optimist, on the other hand, irritates the film's legs, because it is not sufficiently motivated, argued or staged.

The mistake of dramaturgy, let's say, but the whole building collapses with it, if the viewer has no idea why the protagonist suddenly starts behaving like from another novel. And no matter how solid, unforced performance Macháček performs at first, later the feeling grows that even the actor himself does not know the motives of his character's actions.

What's left when the key story arc breaks like this? More or less ornaments, in which family stereotypes alternate with political schemes. When a symbol of post-war hopes, then with dance; when communal Christmas, so with candy, candles, presents and a burning tree; when a communist, then a liar, a rapist, a sloth, and an avenger;

It is the children, although often referred to only as posing around the piano, who bring a touch of individuality to the film: especially the little girl, who is quietly suffering from the knowledge that the father longs for a son. They are also bearers of humor, which can be found in Dezertér by a hair more than in Family Friend, but he has been preparing for so long and explains that, for example, "resistance" with glue in shampoo will not even make him laugh. Similarly, the firefight kills with a literality that a grotesque fist point can barely save.

Simply put, Horticulture differs from the famous model in its narrative manner. While Pelíšky built a unique image of the depicted time out of uniqueness, now the creators find themselves on the ground of an average TV chronicle of the Tell Story type, in which props play more than celebrities - with a few exceptions led by David Novotný - and which must set empty time.

So he walks lazily through the infirmary and the insane asylum, explaining in a commentary, and wishing to poetically relay the baton to the final third episode, the November Suitor. If someone from the tandem Petr Jarchovský - Jan Hřebejk is waiting for a more fundamental message, the Deserter only repeats the cliché that men make strong gestures, while women themselves drag children and coal.