By ANDRAS GAL
Observer staff
NOV. 15, 2007

At his Washington premiere, Oscar-winning Czech director Jirí Menzel presented his latest film I Served the King of England this week, during the American Film Institute’s 20th annual European Union Film Showcase.

Menzel, a key figure of the Czech New Wave films of the 1960s, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film with his movie Closely Watched Trains. Now, after four decades, the long-time friend and collaborator of Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, Menzel claims to have realized his lifelong dream by adapting Hrabal’s most popular novel of the same name.

“This film is not about the King of England,” said Menzel, jokingly introducing his film to AFI’s audience. It is this humor that characterizes his public appearances, interviews, and most importantly, his films. And, sarcasm is his tool to tell the story of the fortunes and misfortunes of otherwise ordinary characters in the midst of historical-political complexities in their country.

Set in Czechoslovakia before, during and after WWII, the film tells the story of a young waiter, Jan Díte, whose ambition of becoming a millionaire is fulfilled due to a series of lucky events, but he loses everything in the end following a twist of a historic misfortune. Blind to the political realities around him, Díte follows his instincts, devoting himself to the love of food, money and beautiful women - thanks to fortune and the advice of his mentor, who “served the King of England” and made his way up from an apprentice waiter to a wealthy hotel owner.

In the meantime, Díte’s homeland is occupied by Nazi Germany and he falls in love with a German girl. This relationship makes him hated by his fellow peace-loving Czechs, as well as the Germans, who want him to prove his “Aryan” blood to be able to marry her. The Nazi confiscation of Jewish wealth makes him a millionaire, just to be stripped of all of his fortune following the Communist takeover of the country and the subsequent nationalization. As a wealthy enemy of the communist state, he is sentenced to fifteen years in prison. The story begins with ” after fourteen years and nine months” and is told in a flashback narration by the aging Díte.

“It was always my luck to run into bad luck,” the main protagonist says in the beginning, somewhat characterizing his nation’s fate as well, which “never liked fighting wars,” but was nevertheless torn by the war and repressed under two totalitarian regimes.

“I’m glad to have made this film at this age,” said Menzel, who has been planning to make it for years, but only recenty “had enough time to read books and study history” – certainly enough to make a mockery out of fascists and communists.

Screened at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, I Served the King of England is the 2007 Official Oscar Submission from the Czech Republic for Best Foreign Language Film. The 2007 European Union Film Showcase at AFI runs from Nov.1-20, presenting a selection of award-winning films from the European Union member states.

To read more about this film, click here.