Bastardi

Bastards works better as a comedy than as the drama that it aspires to be. The humor brought to the film by children–non–actors with their natural behavior and down-to-earth lines –lighten up the drama, which comes across as naïve or even tacky (the church scene). Which is a pity, because it overshadows the bold move on part of the filmmakers in telling the truth about things we’ve never seen in a Czech feature film and will probably never see again. Tomáš Magnusek is a big filmmaking enthusiast and, unlike some other such individuals, he also makes films himself. As a screenwriter, however, he might be more successful in the field of vulgar comedy. (31.10.2010)

A rape revenge comedy into which Alexander Hemala oozed from somewhere on the bottom, along with paedophile sex and black magic (“you put a hex on the city!”). A dud that’s just as blatantly idiotic and atrociously tasteless as the films from the early years of Normalisation, but with food-porn delicacies such as Magnusek heating up sausages and Magnusek eating a cream puff. It’s enough to make a nutritionist choke on their organic granola. 20% (31.12.2012)

Good intentions and passion for the cause are sometimes not enough because this is a bad film through and through. It’s so ridiculous in its 'I am the true picture of contemporary education, adore me!' position that I am willing to give it one star. If you want to see how an idealistic teacher deals with a classroom full of assholes, watch the fourth season of The Wire instead. (13.02.2012)

I got my initial shock from Tomáš Magnusek's other works, but now I consider his contribution to Czech cinema as a certain line of independent production. The formal aspects are bad, and the acting is significantly cloudy, yet the theme is unfortunately topical and apt. The script is sometimes naive, sometimes very striking. (02.04.2011)

Yes, I know that some topics need to be pointed out, and that the one this film is instigating is one of the most popular... But damn, why did they have to make such a super stupid movie? Even Czech TV shows look more film-like than this monstrosity. The actors and "actors" are either not acting or overacting, the script was probably made up during the ten-minute intermission... I could go on and on. I like the band Krucipüsk, so I was attracted to this film mainly by the participation of its (also totally non-acting) front-man Tomáš Hajíček. But now I'd rather forget he was there. I should have just listened to the one good song of his that is in the film on CD. Gross, folks. (04.11.2011)

The fact that the script is overall terrible and individual scenes are mostly poorly thought out, just like the topic itself is not well analyzed, it is precisely this topic that drives the film forward. Tomáš Magnusek embarked on something that is quite controversial and should definitely be pointed out. I don't know if the problem is at such a level and it doesn't necessarily have to be racially charged, but the problem is still present. The way children behave towards teachers, and how parents behave towards teachers as well. Magnusek approached it bravely, but poorly from a script perspective (after all, the director didn't handle it well either), but at least he cast good actors for it. (31.10.2013)