013 CIFF ’20 | Servants

Gorgeously shot in high-contrast black and white, Ivan Ostrochovský’s noirish sophomore feature takes us back to 1980 in Cold War Czechoslovakia, when the state was insidiously evil and all seeing. Juraj (Samuel Skyva) and Michal (Samuel Polakovic), young seminarians studying for the priesthood, become enmeshed in intrigue when they find themselves caught between the state-sponsored Catholic authority Pacem in Terris—a real organization put in place to make sure priests toed the party line—and their own moral beliefs. They get involved with an underground enclave of clergy trying to fight back, and, as Ostrochovský ratchets up the tension, they face life-altering choices that may cost them their lives…

‘Ostrochovský’s… insidiously flinty, supremely assured and chillingly stylish second feature spins a story which is of utmost relevance today… This is an unsettling rebuke of government control and ideological manipulation.’—Sarah Ward, Screen