By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Bohdan Sláma
Starring: Ladislav Sedivý | Marek Daniel | Pavel Liska | Tereza Vorísková | Zuzana Bydzovdká
Original language title: Venkovský ucitel
Country: czech_republic, france, germany
Year: 2009
Running time: 103
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1284526/
Bruce says: “**SPOILERS**
“THE COUNTRY TEACHER is a lovely film about a young gay teacher who escapes to the countryside to avoid confronting his sexuality. As we all know, relocating usually means packing up one’s problems and carrying them to the new location where they once again rear their ugly heads. In this case Peter (Pavel Liska), the teacher, abandons his boyfriend on the grounds that he is not in love and leaves his teaching position at a prep school in Prague. Ironically he fall in love with a country boy whom he tutors and who is hopelessly heterosexual.
“Peter tries to inspire his students, ‘All of us are units of nature. If we don’t understand nature we don’t understand ourselves.’ Several of the women in the village have designs on Peter but none get very far with their unsubtle overtures. One of the women is the uneducated Marie (Zuzana Bydzovdká) whose husband left her for another woman then came back with remorse. Marie claims that she could not love him anymore. Her son, Lada (Ladislav Sedivý) has a girlfriend from Prague named Bara who comes to the village to visit her grandmother on weekends. Marie and Lada manage a sizeable farm with many cows.
“Lada is floundering in school and Marie hires Peter to tutor him so that Lada does not end up uneducated like her. Peter gradually becomes obsessed with the boy. Peter’s old boyfriend comes to the village under the pretense of being a classroom inspector. When Peter says, ‘I didn’t fall in love with you. Can you forgive me?’ the former boyfriend runs off with Bara in a defiant display of bisexuality. Lada is devastated.
“Peter cannot restrain himself and injudiciously fondles Lada while he is sleeping. Lada wakes up in a rage. ‘What happened?’ Marie asks. He touched me,’ Lada replies. ‘How?’ she asks. ‘My dick,’ he answers. Just what does it take for a mother to save the life of a man who has molested her son? Marie is put to such a test and quickly establishes her priorities, proving that wisdom isn’t always gained from traditional learning. Forced to confront his demons, Peter emerges much the better in spite of his missteps and foolishness.
“The story drifts along slowly and many of the plot points are fuzzy. For example, Peter moves in with an old woman who suddenly dies. It is unclear exactly what relationship the old lady has to the other characters in the film. Pavel Liska and Zuzana Bydzovdká, both well known stage actors in Prague, handle their film roles well. Liska has also appeared in director Bohdan Sláma’s earlier film SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS. 4 cats”
Thom says: “Hopelessly heterosexual? Ha-ha-ha. This film is another wonderful release from the superior Film Movement program. The old woman that Peter moves in with early on has no relation to the other characters; he moves in because there is no other place to live in the village. I had given Slama’s earlier film SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS 4 1/2 cats but I thought this film was an improvement: 5 cats, for certain.