Marketic It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

pointyfilippa The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

jadavix "The Elementary School", chosen by Czech audiences as their greatest film, is proof that countries can rarely be trusted when it comes to deciding such things. One suspects it is beloved in its own country not because it is a particularly great movie, but because it depicts a country that no longer exists (Czechoslovakia) - and perhaps never existed in the first place.The main character, Eda, is a mischievous tyke whose terribly behaved class sends his teacher crazy. She is replaced by a war hero who introduces corporal punishment, and with it, respect and admiration.Eda should be carrying the movie, but never emerges as a character in his own right. Isn't the movie supposed to be seen through his eyes? The camera supersedes him.The cast of characters is the typical group of kooky eccentrics, though again, few make much of an impression.The movie needed to get down to Eda's level. Instead it hovers around him, showing everything bathed in suspicious gold, not letting us get close enough to doubt the idea that life wasn't better back then.

raider1210 It is a must to see, even if you are a first-timer in Czech comedies. No matter how old you are, it will remind you of your childhood as well, you will recognize the little things that maybe happened to you, or you have heard of them in some stories from people from the older generations. Character portrayal, story and direction are in my point indisputable qualities. This film is about the details and interactions; and in the process the viewer can pick up some lessons for himself. After creation of excellently defined characters, the writer's next task is to make the interactions equally good. We have hope, fear, love, fondness, sexuality, brutality, pain, happiness, poverty, enjoyment...I just wish I could see it for the first time, again!

puck10 THIS is the top of Czech cinematography. Excellent movie, directed by Jan Sverak with wonderful Jan Triska. The only one sentence you can say after watching it is: IT WAS AWESOME.

Jan-94 Igor Hnizdo (Jan Triska) arrives as a new tough teacher to work in the elementary school in a small Czechoslovakian town just after the WWII. The movie reflects many of the dark aspects of the Czechoslovakian history. They're being told with a lot of sense for humour but in fact are not so funny because of the historical facts. Scholars are growing within the time background of the 1945 (end of the war) and 1948 (Communistic overthrown) which makes otherwise sweet and funny movie somehow dark from perspective that you know how bad future lies in front of them.