Most (2003)A poetic and powerful story of a father forced to choose between love and duty. Director:Bobby Garabedian |
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Most (2003)A poetic and powerful story of a father forced to choose between love and duty. Director:Bobby Garabedian |
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| Credited cast: | |||
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Vladimír Javorský | ... |
Father
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Linda Rybová | ... |
Troubled Girl
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Ladislav Ondrej | ... |
Lada
(as Láda Ondrej)
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Ester Geislerová | ... |
Ester
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Brad Heller | ... |
Brad from America
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| Klára Issová | ... |
Pavlinka
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John Lavachielli | ... |
(as John Lavechielli)
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| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Helena Houdová | ... |
Soldier's wife
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Most is the story of a single father who takes his eight year-old son to work with him at the railroad drawbridge where he is the bridge tender. A day before, the boy meets a woman boarding a train, a drug abuser. At the bridge, the father goes into the engine room, and tells his son to stay at the edge of the nearby lake. A ship comes, and the bridge is lifted. Though it is supposed to arrive an hour later, the train happens to arrive. The son sees this, and tries to warn his father, who is not able to see this. Just as the oncoming train approaches, his son falls into the drawbridge gear works while attempting to lower the bridge, leaving the father with a horrific choice. The father then lowers the bridge, the gears crushing the boy. The people in the train are completely oblivious to the fact a boy died trying to save them, other than the drug addict woman, who happened to look out her train window. The movie ends, with the man wandering a new city, and meets the woman, no longer ... Written by Wikipedia
I just returned from an "Entertainment and Media Summit" in Nashville and it was there that I first learned of this film. Two people in the entertainment business whose opinions I respect had nothing but praise for "Most," a movie which came up in our conversation because Bill Zabka, one of the writers, was scheduled to be at the summit. (Unfortunately, he had to cancel at the last minute.) But I did discover an opportunity there to purchase a DVD from one of the other attendees, a young man whose own life was so changed by this movie that he buys multiple copies directly from the publisher and sells them at his cost wherever he goes "just so more lives can be touched." That was an even better recommendation than that of my friends and I quickly handed over the money.
Having now watched the movie I am tempted to join that young man in carrying copies with me. I have given away many books but have never (other than as a present for some occasion) given away a movie. This is one I will. The acting is outstanding, especially by the lead but also by the young man who plays the role of the son of the lead character. The production values are extraordinarily high for an independent film (for any film, actually), the music is simple but not simplistic, and that the film is in Czech makes it even better.
But of course the best thing is the story telling. The story is, I think, always the the thing, and while this story is not new it is told so powerfully, so beautifully, so movingly, that you become part of it.
Most is Czech for bridge, but after watching this movie both words mean so much more. This is an incredible movie which is entertaining and rewarding. See it if you can.