Doktor Martin: Záhada v Beskydech

Petr Zahrádka has inserted a penetrating, almost anthropological probe into the life of mentally slow villagers in the romantic environment of the Beskydy Mountains. Dr. Martin's character, who has Asperger’s, is a brave commentary of masculinity which, in contact with the majesty of the mountains, is dealing with a serious identity crisis. The second half of the film exchanges psychological stratification for a symbolic commentary of a broken national identity. He metaphorically demonstrates that it is history that brings Czechs and Slovaks down. We need to uncompromisingly discard it in order to free ourselves from the yoke of our ancestors and finally touch our manly, fertile selves. I am very much looking forward to where the most ambitious Czech multiverse will move this research in the expected spin-off Strážmistr Topinka. (06.12.2018)

In terms of all of the aspects of its production, this is a full-length television episode stretched to feature length film amounting to a farewell with the character of Doctor Martin in a bizarre crime story about finding a dwarf skeleton and searching for a treasure that includes Indians, Nazis, STB agents and a period circus. While the eternally grumpy country doctor and his wife deal with a trivial and artificially-escalated relationship crisis, the main role is sometimes assumed by constable Topinka, alias the biggest idiot in the entire film, and the audience cannot at any point credibly believe in his most basic of policing abilities. Most of the characters are a degenerate panopticon of stereotypical figures and scowling caricatures. The actors are in many cases made to grimace and unnaturally overact, and the story often treads on the spot, with visible progress about once every twenty minutes. Attempts at eventful or serious dramatic scenes are ridiculous and a parody of themselves, and the same is true for many of the dialogues. The crowning achievement is the final climax that is rich in groundbreaking, absurd twists. The desired humor is at the level of a special needs school and does not work at all, but on the other hand the audience can laugh in moments where the film was probably not supposed to be funny. Perhaps the film can only satisfy TV viewers who, without any sort of irony, are truly looking forward to the series spin-off (in production) with constable Topinka, unless, of course, the plot of the film seems too eccentric to them. (09.12.2018)