Quick Summary: Alois Nebel is beautifully animated, dark, but ultimately life-affirming. Easily the best film I saw in all of 2011.

Title: Alois Nebel

Release: 2011

Director: Tomás Lunák

Starring:

Miroslav Krobot (Alois Nebel)

Karel Roden (the Mute)

Marie Ludvíková (Kveta)

Leos Noha (Wachek)

Alois Nebel is the beautifully animated, dark, but ultimately life-affirming story of an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. The title character, Alois, is station master in a small Czech town near the borders with Poland and Germany. He is a quiet, introspective man who loves his cat, loves trains, and is haunted by the things he saw as a child during World War II. He has the misfortune to live in interesting times; the film opens in September of 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

As the story begins, a strange man illegally crosses the border from East Germany into Czechoslovakia, finding his way to the small town where Alois lives. Meanwhile, Alois' corrupt assistant, Wachek, has arranged with an equally corrupt doctor to have Alois temporarily hospitalized so that Wachek can take over his job. While in the hospital, the mysterious mute man who crossed the border becomes Alois' roommate.

The mute escapes the hospital, the secret police on his heels. Alois is released to discover that the world has changed in his absence; his job has been thoroughly taken over by Wachek, and Czechoslovakia is no longer a communist country. With the help of his new friend (and love interest) Kveta, Alois must find a new place in the world - and figure out how his own past connects to the mute foreigner's quest.

The animation in this film is simply superb. Rotoscoping is used with minimalistic black-and-white ink work to produce a dark, moody, atmospheric world. Rain and snow are rendered incredibly realistically. The animation of the big steam engines that come to Alois' station is so powerful, the entire theatre seems to shake. I was continuously astounded by the beauty of the simple animation and the limited palette.

The acting is also excellent, as are the musical choices.

I recommend this movie highly; it is easily the best film I've seen so far this year, and will remain one of my favourites.

Please note that the film is not suitable for younger viewers - more than one brutal murder is shown.

Originally Written: September 19, 2011

 I really need to find this on DVD somewhere . . . I am still raving about it to my friends, three years after having seen it!