Zánik samoty Berhof (The Downfall of the Secluded Farm Berhof) (1983)
Directed by Jiří Svoboda
101 minutes
This striking home invasion drama is, like František Vláčil’s better known Shadows of a Hot Summer, set at a border homestead in the immediate aftermath of World War II. By the time news of Hitler’s death arrives at the crumbling Berhof farm, the family occupying it is itself going to pieces: The matriarch is dying in her bed, the father tyrannically rules the house, and the daughter plots her escape. Nearby German marauders, refusing to recognize defeat, plan a last stand against a nearby Czechoslovak garrison; they gain entry to Berhof disguised as nuns. Vladimír Körner’s novel was originally meant for Vláčil, but normalization and Vláčil’s own ban upended those plans. Directing duties fell instead to the younger Jiří Svoboda, whose lens is wide and camera is nervy, handheld, and formal-style baroque—with shadows as black as a starless sky.