PÖFF 2016: The Red Captain

Červený kapitán

Genre

(none)

Director

Michal Kollar

Run time

1h 55min

Hot summer of year 1992. The world has seen the Communist Regime fall but the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia has still legitimate power.

This is what happens to detective Richard Krauz (played by Maciej Stuhr, the son of legendary Polish actor Jerzy Stuhr), when he is handed a case of a mysterious body, found in the course of the reconstruction of a cemetery. The body has a nail stuck in its skull, indicating the person did not go silently into the night. Richard wants to keep it ethical, but once he discovers that communist secret police was behind the torturing and the particular body is a sexton, related to a history of blackmailing crimes committed on priests, he soon finds himself on a slippery slope as the trail leads to an expert on interrogations within the communist secret police, the so-called “Red Captain”.

Michal Kollar is a name that pops up as a big-time producer of the region, with a decent number of feature films and co-productions under his belt. Easily one of the reasons how his debut film features an ensemble of the best of the best of Polish, Slovakian and Czech actors and why the script is based on a book of one the bestselling crime novelists. Yet, what truly serves the film is its strong-handed directing, where every move is calculated for the best outcome, every influence and homage cleverly hidden and plot-turns matching the minimal use of music and en pointe cinematography, making “The Red Captain” a feast for anyone who loves a proper crime thriller.

Maria Reinup

Genre

(none)

Director

Michal Kollar

Run time

1h 55min

Hot summer of year 1992. The world has seen the Communist Regime fall but the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia has still legitimate power.

This is what happens to detective Richard Krauz (played by Maciej Stuhr, the son of legendary Polish actor Jerzy Stuhr), when he is handed a case of a mysterious body, found in the course of the reconstruction of a cemetery. The body has a nail stuck in its skull, indicating the person did not go silently into the night. Richard wants to keep it ethical, but once he discovers that communist secret police was behind the torturing and the particular body is a sexton, related to a history of blackmailing crimes committed on priests, he soon finds himself on a slippery slope as the trail leads to an expert on interrogations within the communist secret police, the so-called “Red Captain”.

Michal Kollar is a name that pops up as a big-time producer of the region, with a decent number of feature films and co-productions under his belt. Easily one of the reasons how his debut film features an ensemble of the best of the best of Polish, Slovakian and Czech actors and why the script is based on a book of one the bestselling crime novelists. Yet, what truly serves the film is its strong-handed directing, where every move is calculated for the best outcome, every influence and homage cleverly hidden and plot-turns matching the minimal use of music and en pointe cinematography, making “The Red Captain” a feast for anyone who loves a proper crime thriller.

Maria Reinup

Info

Rating

(none)

Production year

2016

Global distributor

--

Local distributor

Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival MTÜ

In cinema

11/23/2016