Navigating a well-recognized topic with delicacy and a mind for emotional element, Czech writer-director Ondrej Provaznik delivers a subtly highly effective adolescent drama along with his newest function, Damaged Voices (Sbormistr).

Impressed by the true story of the Bambini di Praga (Kids of Prague), a famend Czech youth refrain whose director was convicted in 2008 of sexually abusing dozens of teenage women, the movie follows a quite foreseeable path however does so with loads of honesty and coronary heart. After premiering in competitors at Karlovy Range, it might echo throughout extra festivals in addition to arthouse distributors all through Europe.

Set within the early 90s, when the Czech Republic was shedding the final vestiges of Communism and steadily opening as much as the West, Provaznik’s well-tempered state of affairs reveals how kids born below Soviet rule have been prepared to do something to discover the world exterior of their homeland. For sisters Karolina (Katerina Falbrova) and Lucie (Maya Kintera), this implies getting chosen as A-list singers in a well-known choir that’s about to embark on a tour of three main U.S. cities.

The hitch is that their celebrated refrain is run by Macha (Juraj Loj), a pretentious and rock star-like musical director who — whether or not or not this was intentional on the filmmaker’s half — appears to have “sexual predator” written throughout his cummerbunds. That sentiment is quickly vindicated once we see Lucie queasily come house one evening after crossing paths with Macha at a celebration, making it clear that among the choir women must pay a excessive value for getting picked.

At that time, the elder Lucie is the favourite and Karolina is barely the upstart. However as the previous recedes into the background after her run-in with Vitek, the latter turns into the focus of a trainer who shrouds his abusive habits in plenty of mansplaining about attaining the right pitch. By the point each sisters head with their refrain to New York, Karolina has grow to be the brand new goal of Vitek’s predation. She’s conscious of what she’s being subjected to, however too intimidated and overpowered to flee her destiny.  

Provaznik tells the story primarily from Karolina’s viewpoint, which is one in every of an harmless lady who slowly succumbs to the crushing forces round her. These embrace her dad and mom, who’re bending over backward so their daughters can get chosen; Lucie and the opposite singers, who resent Karolina for leaping forward within the line-up and make her pay for it in a while; and Vitek, who has clearly been abusing women for a very long time and earmarks Karolina as his subsequent sufferer.

After which there’s the attract of a choir that supplied unheard-of alternatives for younger ladies again then, throughout a second that noticed the Czech Republic and different former Jap Bloc nations trying past the Iron Curtain. Provaznik hints at this throughout scenes of the teenagers dancing or singing alongside to rock songs, with Vitek accompanying them on his guitar. It’s an ideal picture of the euphoria Karolina and the others skilled — a euphoria undercut by the trauma and humiliation a lot of them would undergo.

Shot in grainy 16mm to raised seize the temper of the epoch, Damaged Voices retains its drama grounded within the social and cultural realities of its time. Provaznik coaxes robust performances from the younger forged, whether or not of their refrain rehearsals or behind the scenes. Loj can also be memorable as a trainer who abuses his energy with none regrets in anyway, at a time when such abuses principally went unpunished.

The vast majority of the drama is about in two charming places: a distant ski resort the place Vitek sequesters the choir for a two-week boot camp earlier than their large tour, subjecting them to intense apply periods adopted by co-ed visits to the sauna; and an upscale lodge in Manhattan the place he finally makes his transfer on Karolina. The latter sequence is artfully staged in a single mounted shot, with a window giving out onto an house whose inhabitants are utterly unaware of what’s taking place simply throughout the way in which.

As darkish because the movie can appear, it’s additionally full of moments of harmonic bliss each time the women carry out. Their voices will not be solely what carry them out of the Czech Republic towards broader horizons; they assist flip this considerate docudrama into one thing extra contemplative and stylish. The musical numbers culminate in a scene that reveals Karolina bravely, sadly and desperately doing the one factor a lady in her place can do — changing into a solo act of resistance in a world of submission.

Full credit

Venue: Karlovy Range Worldwide Movie Competition (Crystal Globe Competitors)
Manufacturing corporations: Endorfilm, Punkchart Movies
Forged: Katerina Falbrova, Juraj Loj, Maya Kintera, Zuzana Sulajova, Mare, Cisovsky
Director, screenwriter: Ondrej Provaznik
Producers: Jiri Konecny, Ivan Ostrochovsky
Cinematographer: Lukas Milota
Manufacturing designer: Irena Hradecka
Costume designer : Marek Cpin
Editor: Anna Johsnon Ryndova
Composers: Pjoni, Help Child
Gross sales: Salaud Morisset
In Czech

1 hour 46 minutes