Broken Promise at San Francisco Jewish FF in reviews

Broken Promise, the recent feature film of director Jiří Chlumský, was presented at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, held during July 23 – August 10, 2009. The film‘s screenings were followed by positive responses of the viewers, especially of various reviewers.

Michael Fox, reviewing for the SF360.org website, San Francisco Film Society’s online magazine, considers Broken Promise a „first-rate period saga from Eastern Europe“. „Broken Promise will put you in mind, at different points, of Europa, Europa and The Pianist, which says more about the arbitrariness of fate during wartime than filmic influence,“ he states.

Kevin Kelly, representing Palo Alto Daily News, calls Broken Promise a „cinematic feast“ with „employing breathtaking cinematography and tightly woven scenes“. „What is most memorable about Broken Promise is the way anti-Semitism permeates every scene. How in Slovakia, even before the war, Jews were reviled and, even as the Nazis are losing their grip, Friedman (the main character) must keep his Jewish identity hidden as he fights alongside the Soviets,“ says Kelly.

The Broken Promise is a reconstruction of an original war story of Martin Friedmann-Petrášek, a Slovak Jew from Bánovce nad Bebravou. Martin was a talented football player, who with his team-mates often went to toll the bell at the local church administered by one Jozef Tiso (who was eventually to become the head of the fascist Slovak State).It had its international premiere on April 25, 2009 and was selected and screened at various festival worldwide, winning the main prize of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival in the fiction film category.

San Francisco Jewish Film Festival website: www.sfjff.org

published: 01.09.2009
updated: 29.09.2009