Michel Beran Movies
Based on the novel by John Katzenbach, author of Just Cause (1995), this prison camp drama combines elements of A Soldier's Story (1984) and the classic Stalag 17 (1953). Colin Farrell stars as Lt. Tommy Hart, a second-year Harvard Law School student who enlists to fight in World War II but ends up being taken prisoner by the Germans. When a murder at the Nazi-run Stalag Luft 13 leaves a black Tuskegee airman named Lt. Lincoln Scott (Terrence Dashon Howard) accused of the crime, high-ranking prisoner (and fourth-generation war hero) Col. William McNamara (Bruce Willis) persuades camp commandant Col. Werner Visser (Marcel Iures) to allow the prisoners to hold their own trial. Hart is recruited to defend his fellow officer, but as he reluctantly investigates, he discovers that not all of his fellow allied soldiers are fighting the same war and that his "client" may well have been framed. In the meantime, it becomes apparent that McNamara is using events to mask his true intent, a mission to destroy a nearby munitions plant that he still intends to carry out despite his incarceration. Hart's War (2002) co-stars Vicellous Shannon, Cole Hauser, Rory Cochrane, and Jonathan Brandis. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, (more)
- 1999
Acclaimed Czech filmmaker Jan Hrebejk directs this bittersweet coming-of-age story set in the months leading up to the ill-fated 1968 Prague Spring. Teenager Michal Sebek (Michael Beran) develops a serious crush on his hip neighbor, Jindriska Kraus (Kristyna Novakova). The problem is that his family is headed by a dull-witted army officer who believes that the latest East German Tupperware will sufficiently shame those American imperialists, while her father is an ardent foe of the Communists saved from prison only because he is a war hero. Much to the parents' dismay, the younger generation couldn't give a fig for politics. Instead, Michal sports a Beatles mop-top and runs a local film group specializing in Hollywood and pre-war French films, while Jindriska starts hanging out with a mysterious hipster. Pelisky was screened at the 1999 Vancouver Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Michel Beran, Miroslav Donutil, (more)
