Obcan Havel – Citizen Havel: New Czech Comedy Movie

The new Czech movie Obcan Havel is a documentary movie depicting fifteen years of Havel’s life, in presidential function and after. But it is much more than just a document – when I started watching, I started to smile a little at first, than more, and than I couldn’t help and started to laugh as the rest of the audience in the cinema I went. The Obcan Havel movie is hilarious.

Vaclav Havel in the presidential role entertains by his shyness and impracticability from the first moment. “Where is my suit?”…. “Where the hell do I have my suit?!?” (running around nervously, meanwhile there are important state matters waiting behind the door) or asking his foreign secretary: “How it is possible you have such a nice new red carpet going to your office, and I have the ugly, old, Husak’s gray one, against which I have been fighting for 7 years?” the foreign secretary: “It is not my fault, I don’t understand it and I don’t agree with it.” Havel: “You have lied yourself nicely out of it.” the secretary: “I don’t know anything about it.”

This film is not just a documentary, it is a film full of comedy, carrying a story of the very special and important human being, we now finding out we were lucky to have as a president.