The famous „King of Šumava“ is returning to our televisions. Fortunately, it is not the famous "communist" King of Sumava from 1959, but it is a new three-part series that, since its premiere in the next two weeks, should bring a lot of interesting things about the Czech-German border in the Sumava border region over the next 50 years.
The main role is played by Oskar Hes, for whom this is the several leading role in the series or even the film. His first role was the iconic Wasteland, and so we see how he has progressed within character film acting.
He hasn't really succeeded. The lead character is very dull, almost uninteresting in his performance and his acting fails to pull the film together. The actors in the supporting characters are more interesting and experienced and fare better in comparison to Hes. The older members of the border guards are good characters and the actors make good use of them. It's a crushing defeat for the lead actors. And that's counting his few "nice" ones. After all, the "King of the Bohemian Forest" himself is quite the womanizer, and his harem of mistresses is quite extensive.
In the first episode, we are introduced to the main character's desire to change his life and become a better member of the Border Guard. When his footsteps take him to the border, where he good-heartedly converts emigrants to Germany.
As the beginning of a trilogy, this volume is quite interesting, but unfortunately I probably expected more. The direction by David Ondricek is interesting, but the acting and the incredible story degrade the director's skill.
I'm curious to see the next installment and the entire trilogy.
Momentarily rating the first episode:70%
Original release of this article December 13, 2022 – Kritiky.cz
