Country: Slovakia, Romania, Czech Republic, Ireland Genre: Drama Duration: 80′
Year: 2020 Language: Slovakian Script: REBECCA LENKIEWICZ, MAREK LEŠČÁK IVAN OSTROCHOVSKÝ Starring: SAMUEL SKYVA, SAMUEL POLAKOVIČ, VLAD IVANOV, VLADIMIR STRNISKO, MILAN MIKULČIK Production: PUNKCHART FILMS (SK), POINT FILM (RO), RADIO AND TELEVISION OF SLOVAKIA (SK), NEGATIV (CZ), FILM AND MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT (IE), LIBRA FILM PRODUCTIONS (RO), HAI HUI ENTERTAINMENT (RO), SENTIMENTAL FILM (SK)
SYNOPSIS
The year is 1980. Michal and Juraj are students at a theological seminary in totalitarian Czechoslovakia. Fearing the dissolution of their school, the tutors are moulding the seminarians into a shape satisfactory to the ruling Communist Party. Each of the young students must decide if he will give into the temptation and choose the easier way of collaborating with the regime, or if he will subject himself to draconian surveillance by the secret police.
« THE UNTOLD HISTORY OF THE CHURCH’S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE COMMUNIST REGIME DURING THE COLD WAR »
Press Reviews
« Ivan Ostrochovský’s sophomore feature is a brilliantly crafted, atmospherically enveloping seminary drama. » Variety
« Ivan Ostrochovsky’s insidiously flinty, supremely assured and chillingly stylish second feature spins a story which is of utmost relevance today. » Screen International
« Where moving pictures meet Rachmaninoff and the past stands to attention, questioning progress dictated by fear, comes Ivan Ostrochovsky’s Servants. » The Upcoming
« Cold wars of the spirit, fashionably austere and terse. Ostrochovsky delivers a series of striking visual images, often from unusual overhead angles. Starting with the very first shot — which follows a car driving a forlorn road at night — his bold, confident strokes accumulate into a sharp portrait of restrained, stylish and brooding power. » The Hollywood Reporter
« The Noirish atmosphere prevails, underlined by the protagonists’ long shadows, the night scenes artfully shot with one single light source. Servants is true to the spirit of Bresson » Filmuforia
« Working with the secret police seems to be merely the other side of a double-edged sword.Servants is perhaps most chilling thanks to a certain inescapable timeless quality, despite being set specifically in 1980. Facades and faces comingle in extravagantly shot frames from Juraj Chlpik which demonstrates the powerful remnants of symbols vs. the reality of the flesh’s mortality » Ioncinema
« The most impressive thing about Servants is how Ostrochovský has managed to sustain the unrelenting tension and uncertainty throughout the 80-minute running time » Cineuropa
« Servants offers both a fascinating insight into the conflicts of the era while managing to bring out the universal struggle between doing what’s right and what’s comfortable. » Culturd Vultures
