Velká sázka o malé pivo

Yes, I admit publicly, with some reservations, Josef Jelínek, the infamous crook who sold Karlštejn and the trolley line in Prague, is my maternal great-uncle. Normally I would brag about it more often, because having such a scumbag in the family is – how to say it – interesting (?), photogenic (?), after all, our Švejk nature has always favored characters like Janošik and other scoundrels who took from the rich and gave nothing to the poor (ahem). What I can't forgive Jelínek for (and that's why I hardly ever mention him to my friends) is his antisemitism, which I have always found repugnant. After the war, this black sheep of our family packed up and went to Italy, where he had a very successful career as a painter that even earned him an invitation from the Pope. But that's another chapter of his life that went completely outside of our family. We have only one photo of him together with my great-grandmother and other family members and the occasional interest of writers who ask us now and then for photographic material and other documents. And the film itself? An utterly mediocre, unfunny tale that I wouldn't have batted an eyelid at if it weren't for my family connections. (22.12.2015)

Als Film zum Entspannen ist Velká sázka o malé pivo ziemlich geeignet. So wie viele andere haben auch mich die Lieder gestört. Sie sollen wahrscheinlich die Stimmung der damaligen Zeit hervorrufen. Überflüssig. Auf YouTube kann man (außer dem ganzen Film) auch ihre Schnittversion finden – sie dauert fast fünfzehn Minuten, was mehr als genug ist. Ich möchte sowohl Oldřich Kaiser, dessen snobistisches Verhalten sensationell ist, als auch Jiří Lábus in der Rolle eines Diebes loben. Jiří Císler hat mich ausnahmsweise nicht gestört. Am lustigsten fand ich die Szene mit dem Überreichen der Dokumentation – Kaisers Mimik bei dem Öffnen des falschen Koffers mit "Palmal-Zigaretten" ist einzigartig. (26.09.2011)