Czech Dream (2004)

I don't want to waste too much time on this review, as the film itself was already time wasting enough.First of all, nothing happens. The picture of the film makers being chased on the front cover was bogus, they weren't chased, they weren't attacked -- some people argued with them at the end of the 'prank' in an extremely non-threatening way and that was all.Secondly, the film was extremely poorly made. It's honestly hard to make a documentary this boring, everything about the production was poor and not even up to a decent amateur standard. It's amazing how poorly edited and selected the cuts that they used were. Just really, really, woefully poor film making.In the end, when pressed on the issue, the film makers admitted that they got the money for this big hoax as a grant from the Czech government. Apparently, they are privileged boys with some connections. It's actually quite sickening when you think about a relatively poor nation like the Czech Republic having their tax dollars squandered in this way so that two unusually dim witted brats can play a big joke on a couple thousand people.And I have to say, considering the time and resources involved, getting what looked like at most 2,000 people to show up for the joke is not very impressive. These guys are underachievers all the way to the finish.Boring, offensive, poorly made, waste of time. End.

Like most people I was intrigued when I heard the concept of this film, especially the "film makers were then attacked" aspect that the case seems to emphasize, what with the picture on the cover of the film makers being chased by an angry mob.Then, to watch the film and discover, oh, what they mean by "the film makers were attacked" was some kids threw rocks at a sign and a number of people complained loudly and said "Someone should beat those two kids up." The picture on the cover, "the chase" as it were? Total fabrication. Which I guess ties in with the theme of the film, lying and manipulation to satisfy vain, stupid children with more money and time then sense.I have no idea what great truth the viewer is supposed to take away from this film. It's like Michael Moore's "Roger & Me", but if "Roger & Me" was Moore mocking the people of Flint. It's completely misdirected and totally inane. Wow! Can you believe that people who suffered under the yoke of Communism would be really excited to have markets full of food? What jerks! And it's not so much, "Look at the effects of capitalism and western media blah blah blah", since it wasn't just that their fake market had comparable prices to the competitors, it was that, as many people in the film say, the prices were absurdly low, someone mentions that they should've known it was fake by how much they were charging for duck. That's not proving anything except that people who are poor, will go to a store that has low prices, bravo fellas, way to stick it to the people on the bottom.Way to play a stupid practical joke on elderly people. You should be very proud. How about for your next movie you make a documentary about Iraq and show how people there will get really excited for a house without bullet holes in the walls and then, say, "HAHA! NO SUCH HOUSE EXISTS! YOUR SO STUPID AND LOVED TO BE LIED TO BY THE MEDIA!".Morgan "Please Like Me" Spurlock unleashed this wet fart of a film and it's no surprise since Spurlock as One Hit Wonder prince of the documentary world seems to throw his weight behind any silly sounding concept to stay relevant in a world that really has no need of him.Avoid like the plague.

After seeing this documentary "Ceský sen" (Czech Dream) by Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda in 2004, I do really love this documentary. It is funny and creative. It basically describes two film-making students made up a supermarket which did not really exist and did all kind of advertisement to grab people's attention. Finally, thousand of people came to the "fake" supermarket and then they found themselves cheated by these people. In the process of making all kind of advertisement, such as post cards, direct mails and so on, we can see the sound guy, microphone and all other devices and equipment while they are interviewing with others. In most documentaries, directors may prevent audiences seeing the equipment they are using, but in this film, they purposely showed that to the audiences - remind us this is a movie - this is a game - a fake one! It is ironic that people think documentary should show the reality and the truth. However, people in this film thought that all these were fake - not real. However, in my personal opinion, these two directors did not just "cheat". I think they just used different ways to achieve their purpose. "Cheat these filming people" is merely one way to achieve their goal. Just like Discovery Channel, if directors want to film animals, they also have to do some "particular" ways to achieve their purpose. In this film, the filming objects become from other animals to human being. Thus, I do not think what they did is cheating. Instead, what they have done is just one way to achieve their goal - to see these people's response and show how important the mass medium is. Besides, these consumers did not lose anything - including money. In addition, they have warned people in advance, so I think what they have done is okay. This documentary can be seen as a psychological experimental documentary - then their "cheating" just becomes a way for testing. All other crews who helped make posters, painting and advertisement were not right or wrong. They just did what they did - which were just like props in most films. Besides, they used "tax money" to set up everything and then filmed them out. I did not think they wasted the money, because their movie became many people's discussion subjects and made people think more in mass medium and advertisement matters. By and large, the money they spent is worthy. The dream the two students made up for people was just like a bubble. Eventually it would disappear.

A lot of czechs actually became angry at the makers of this movie, they felt betrayed, but it also shows very well how new western style economies can be vulnerable and that appearances rule our lives.See for yourself how consumers allow themselves to be fooled by 'the big companies' I am not necessarily an anti-globalist or anything, some of the big companies have actually made goods more accessible for everyone, but a large number of us should be more aware of the effect the media have on us.Other than that the movie is just fun to watch and quite funny at many points.nice one guys! at'zije konzumentBas zNizozemi