KissEnglishPasto ...........................................................from Pasto,Colombia...Via: L.A. CA., CALI, COLOMBIA...and ORLANDO, FL Ahhh! The joys of the simple life....Yes, go hand-in-hand with the joys of a simple movie! Watching films from MANY different countries is an absolutely enthralling endeavor! Each nation's films tend to exhibit a peculiar cultural signature spin, that is a delightfully intriguing puzzle, waiting to be deciphered and savored. An appetite for Czech films is, however, undoubtedly an acquired taste.Let me share some of the things that made TEACHER such a cinematic plum. Very In-Your-Face, but without ever trying in the least to be, is the physical appearance of the actors themselves. WOW! Talk about the antithesis incarnate of the 2 hours per day at the gym, capped-teeth-multiple-plastic- surgery-and-hair-implant, monthly-Botox-injections "LOOK" that seems to be practically the norm in Hollywood...This cast looks like they were sent from "Real-People'R'US", after dropping out of their weekly ReHab meetings!Also, there were a couple moments in the film where I began feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the direction the movie began to go in, but before this discomfort escalated into something more serious, the movie veered off in a pleasantly unexpected direction! No formulaic Hollywood fluff, here...NO Siree, Bob! Two cultural notes: Boy, these Czechs sure are at ease with nudity! People running around nude in the house, Hey, doesn't raise an eyebrow! Also, people are ever so cooperative with official government policy! Government says "No more discrimination against gays in the workplace!" and its: "DAH! Dee government says vee must do dis, so vee are on board...OK!" One pleasant and unexpected surprise...The Czech folk(?)music! Very soothing and haunting melodies. I'll have to ask some of my Czech students to fill me in! Be sure not to miss it! Recommended by a Friend...8* STARS*....ENJOY/DISFRUTELA! Any comments, questions or observations, in English or Español, are most welcome!

jotix100 It is somewhat puzzling to see a teacher from a big city go to a rural community in the Czech Republic. After all, the attractions of Prague being exchanged, perhaps, for the serenity of a simple life, might not be a fair exchange. Yet, this taciturn man gives us the idea he is hiding from something, or someone. The life he can expect among the country folks betrays his intelligence. The thirtysomething teacher strikes a good chord among the young children in his classes. His approach is different from what they probably have been exposed to, before his arrival. Life in that rural community does not offer him much in the way of intellectual reward, yet he seems to be at peace with himself.When he meets the lady farmer Marie, the teacher has been sleeping on a pile of the hay she, and her son, Lada, are loading into their cart to bring back to their barn. This woman, a widow, makes a sexual advance to the teacher, something that he stops. Marie's reasoning is that perhaps she is older and this man is not interested. In reality, the teacher has a dark secret. He is a homosexual. The teacher is an honest man who had come out to his parents. They had no problem with their son's sexual preference.The teacher, who watches Lada making out with Beruska, his girlfriend, lusts after the teenager, but being aware of his situation, he keeps away. In fact, Lada counts on the teacher to tutor him for his math exam. During a drinking session, the teacher takes Lada to his place and thinking the boy is not aware, or perhaps getting the wrong signal, he only contributes to having Lada repulsed by his advance as he runs away in horror. When he sees Marie, who knows about the teacher's indiscretion, he believes he must leave the school because the shame of having blown his own cover. But he does not count in being forgiven by the mother, and the school principal, whose attitude is plain understanding.A sensitive film written and directed by Bohdan Slama. The film deals with an issue that in other countries could had been interpreted as an outrage. In fact, most of the fears in our country are about the sexual orientation of the ones in charge of innocent children, when even for most gays in those positions, the mere thought of abusing a child is as repugnant as the population, at best. This teacher makes the mistake of thinking Lada, being drunk, will not even be aware of his sexual overture, but he is horrified by the realization of how his newly found peace in the country comes crashing down on him.Pavel Liska makes an impression as the teacher. He underplays his role giving an understated performance. Zuzana Bydzovska makes an excellent contribution to the film with her Marie. Divis Marek's cinematography captures the idyllic countryside in all its glory. The incidental music is by Vladimir Godar.

mark buffalo "Country teacher" was the first Czech movie to be shown in Morocco during the European cinema week 2010 edition. The motion picture left the majority of the audience in a complete unease and resentment due to its depiction of Homosexual themes not fully accepted by the local culture. But what turned me off, was not the subject but the treatment of what seemed a genuine compelling premise.the first shots introduce us to the protagonist(Petr) getting used to his new life as a teacher of a primary school in a rural region, the cinematography at first captures the lush beautiful landscape in a smooth direct fashion in contrast with the confusion and unease growing inside the title character that obviously hides a terrible secret that prompted him to flee his urban life for a hideout somewhere. But what seemed a build up for a tense deep narration, gets clumsily wasted when a single scene tells us that pets is struggling with his homosexuality and the obtrusive control of his mother that happens to teach in the same high school he left. This revelations seems to the author/director so groundbreaking that he relies for the rest of the motion picture on emotional tear jerker situations and lines never fully explained and lacking a simple coherent narrative line. There was some attempt at graphic and verbal symbolism through some teaching classes about the animal realm and some shots with special attention paid to the background but the whole thing falls short of any valuable addition to the story since forced and not heartily composed.There's also the uneven insertions of the soundtrack composed solely of modern classical vocal solos that pops up out of nowhere and fades unnoticed.What really appalled me to finish with was the everybody-understands -forgives-themselves and everybody else ending. No denouement of the events led to what seemed a forced finale witch sole purpose was to transform the tortured souls into free forgiving new born persons that collaborate on a last symbol-loaded scene: the birth giving of a calf unwisely inserted into the narration but beautifully shot.Overall a weak entry of the eastern European author cinema, that needs more coherent narration if it wants to win over a reluctant Moroccan audience uneasy with queer cinema to begin with!

clg238 Although early on, an attentive viewer can guess at the ending (or a good portion of the ending), the film never loses its power. There are five strong characters in this film, and the relationships between them are wonderfully complex, as only a non-American film can portray. There are no simple answers here; life is complicated, even in a Czech farming village. By the time the film ends, we know exactly what it would be like to live in this place, what we would do for work and fun, who our friends would be, what the future would hold for us. Although much of this view is filtered through the main character, the teacher, his non- judgmental approach allows us to appreciate how things are in a world different from ours. From the outset, the teacher clearly has secrets; this, oddly, does not drive the plot as much as the question of how he will integrate into an environment different from the world of Prague and elite schools that this son of a woman science professor used to inhabit. This film, sans car chases, sans bombs, sans gratuitous anything, is mesmerizing.