Films A-Z
Václav Havel, Prague - Castle
Václav Havel, Praha - Hrad
Petr Jančárek / Czech Republic / 2009 / 57 min.
When Václav Havel was elected president on 29 December 1989, he and his advisors' immediate goal was to lead the country to its first free elections and to remove Soviet forces from Czechoslovak territory as quickly as possible. Petr Jančárek's documentary devotes itself to the first six months of Havel's presidency. We see the ex-president's occasional frantic nature, his worries and small pleasures. We also discover the personality of Václav Havel, as seen through the eyes of those around him. The film chronicles his first trips to European countries, the USA and the Soviet Union. It also depicts his historically significant speech to the United States Congress as well as the first visits of Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama to the former Czechoslovakia. The director also does not neglect to look at the work of Olga Havlová, who refused the normal role of a "First Lady" and became a civic activist. Jančárek's film presents the complex personality of the former president, who suddenly went from being a dissident to become the head of a free democratic state.
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