Czech drama on music and sexual abuse

By sailing on a familiar subject with delicacy and an eye on emotional details, the Czech writer-director Ondrej Provaznik delivers a subtly powerful adolescent drama with his latest feature film, Broken voice (Master).

Inspired by the true history of the Bambini Di Praga (Children of Prague), a renowned Czech choir of youth whose director was condemned in 2008 to sexually abuse dozens of teenage girls, the film follows a rather predictable path but the fact with great honesty and heart. After the first in competition in Karlovy varies, he could echo more festivals as well as to art distributors across Europe.

Located in the early 1990s, when the Czech Republic lost the last vestiges of communism and gradually opened in the West, the well angaznik scenario reveals how children born under Soviet domination were willing to do anything to explore the world outside their homeland. For the Karolina (Katerina Falbrova) and Lucie (Maya Kintera) sisters, this means being chosen as a-list singers in a famous choir which is about to embark on a visit to three major American cities.

The team is that their famous choir is led by Macha (Juraj Loj), a pretentious musical director and of the rock star type who – whether or not it was on the filmmaker’s party – seems to have a “sexual predator” written everywhere in his cummerbunds. This feeling is soon justified when we see Lucie badly at home one night after crossing the way with Macha during a party, clearly indicating that some of the choir girls must pay a high price to be chosen.

At this stage, the elder Lucie is the favorite and Karolina is only the upstart. But while the first fell back into the background after its running-in with Vitak, the second becomes the focal point of a teacher who wraps his abusive behavior in many Le Mans such as the perfect height. As the two sisters head with their choir in New York, Karolina has become the new target of Vitek’s predation. She is aware of what she is subject to, but too intimidated and mastered to escape her fate.

Promaznik tells the story mainly from the point of view of Karolina, who is one of an innocent girl who slowly succumbs to the overwhelming forces around her. These include his parents, who lean back so that their daughters can be chosen; Lucie and the other singers, who want Karolina for having jumped in the programming and making her pay later; And Vitek, who obviously abuses girls for a long time and the headphones of Karolina as the next victim.

And then there is the attraction of a choir that offered incredible opportunities for young women at the time, for a moment that saw the Czech Republic and other former countries of the Eastern Bloc looking beyond the iron curtain. Promaznik alludes to this during the scenes of teenagers dancing or singing in rock songs, with Vitek accompanying them on his guitar. It is a perfect image of the Karolina euphoria and the others that we experience – a mine of euphoria by the trauma and the humiliation that many of them would suffer.

Granulous 16 mm turned to better capture the mood of the time, Broken voice Keeps his drama rooted in the social and cultural realities of his time. Promaznik brings high performance on the part of young actors, whether in their choir rehearsals or behind the scenes. The LOJ is also memorable as a teacher who abuses his power without any regret, at a time when such abuses remain mainly unpunished.

Most of the drama takes place in two captivating places: a distance ski resort where Vitak sequests the choir for a two -week training camp before their big tour, submitting them to intense training sessions followed by mixed sauna visits; And a high -end hotel in Manhattan where he ends up moving on Karolina. This last sequence is cleverly staged in a fixed shot, with a window overlooking an apartment whose inhabitants completely ignore what is happening right in front.

As dark as the film may appear, it is also filled with moments of harmonic happiness whenever the girls occur. Their voices are not only what brings them out from the Czech Republic to wider horizons; They help to transform this thoughtful docudrama into something more contemplative and sublime. The musical numbers culminate in a scene that shows Karolina courageously, unfortunately and desperately do the only thing that a girl in her position can do – becoming a solo act of resistance in a world of total submission.