B’nai Sholom to Screen Award-Winning Czech Drama “Divided We Fall”

B’nai Sholom Reform Congregation in Albany will present a screening of “Divided We Fall,” a Czech story of a hero against his will set in a small Czech town occupied by German forces during the last years of World War II.

“Divided We Fall” will be shown Saturday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. at B’nai Sholom, 420 Whitehall Road, Albany, New York.  Refreshments will be available.  Suggested contribution: $5.

Director Jan Krebejk’s film provides a unique Czech perspective on the Holocaust.  A childless couple, Josef and Marie Cizek (Bolek Polivka and Anna Siskova), watch helplessly as the Jewish family of their employer, the Wieners, is removed from their own home and subsequently deported to Theresienstadt.  Years later during the height of the war, young David Wiener (Csongor Kassai) manages to escape from a work camp in Poland and shows up in his hometown seeking a place to hide.  After the first person David asks for help tries to turn him in, he finds the Cizeks, who reluctantly give him shelter.  The Cizeks now face the danger of discovery by the Nazis, especially by their longtime friend Horst Prohazka (Jaroslav Dusek), who is now attracted to Marie Cizek.  In an effort to avoid discovery, Josef pretends to be a collaborator.  Ensuing events ensnare Josef, Marie and everyone around them in a series of absurdist situations as comical as they are horrifying.

The 2000 film received the Czech Lion Award for “Best Film” and was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award for “Best Foreign Language Film.”  The New York Times called “Divided We Fall” “pervaded with humor that serves not to sentimentalize or sugarcoat the monstrosity of Naziism, but to explain it.”

The 120-minute film is in German and Czech with English subtitles.  It is rated PG-13 for scenes of violence and implicit sex.

For more information, visit www.bnaisholomalbany.org  or contact the B’nai Sholom office at 518-482-5283 or office@bnaisholom.albany.ny.us.