In the Filmmaking Trenches Director Sver·k, Producer Abraham Go to Battle for ëDark Blue Worldí by Ky N. Nguyen To make the World War II film ìDark Blue World,î Czech director Jan Sver·k and British producer Eric Abraham (born in South Africa) had to execute their own military campaign. Sver·k recalled, ìWe had to polish the screenplay, find the money, gather the army, and get ready to shoot. That gobbled up exactly three years. When we at last marched off into battle, some problems began to surface. We had to adjust and improve the strategy on the march. So one could say we were turning into an army, pushing the story ahead and conquering it bit by bit, like patches of enemy territory.î Sver·k and Abraham first fought together as jury members of the 1992 Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where they were in the minority in believing a movie should be judged primarily on its merits rather than the so-called importance of its subject matter. They collaborated on 1996ís ìKolya,î an international sensation that won Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. I met with them at the Four Seasons Hotel to discuss ìDark Blue World,î which is now playing. (Abraham also produced another film playing now, ìBirthday Girl,î starring Nicole Kidman.) Sver·k noted, ìThe starting point for the film was the true story of the Czech RAF [Royal Air Force] pilots. After ëKolya,í we were confident we could pull off any film as long as it was in the English language. So Dad [veteran writer Zdenek Sver·k] started to write the screenplay and to our naÔve surprise, it came out as a quintessentially Czech movie. The humor and emotion revolved around the fact that these men did not understand English and were somehow lost in a strange country. So if all the characters spoke English, if Czech characters were played by Americans or Englishmen, the screenplay would have lost 80 percent of what it was about.î Abraham remarked, ìZdenek wanted to write a story about the last Czech heroesóthe World War II pilots. They could have remained in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia but actively chose to escape in order to fight. These men chose a moral course and got kicked in the guts for it when they returned home. They paid the price of moral courage.î After the communists took power, all RAF veterans were imprisoned in Czechoslovakia. Sver·k remembered, ìEarly on when we were discussing the screenplay, we considered editing out all the post-war scenes to leave a seamless linear stream of World War II narrative, free of any flash-forwards. Somehow we found it boring. An ordinary story Ö why bother shooting it? The screenplay only made sense to me when the 1950s prison scenes were included. They give the story a different perspective or dimension within which to consider many moral issues, and this is what interests me and what I enjoy. ìI think we [father and son] both like to mix laughter and tears. It makes for a good emotional cocktail,î Sver·k said. ìMy father is a writer of intimate human stories. An epic war movie is something heíd never dealt with before. I tried to discourage him from being daunted by the scale. Each time he said, ëI am going to put in a scene featuring nine bombers. Will you be able to shoot it?í And I replied, ëPiece of cake!íóeven though I had no idea how I was going to do it at the time.î Abraham explained the difficulty of raising funds for a foreign film: ìForeign language films occupy about 1 percent of the North American market and marginally more in Europe. In spite of the global success of films like ëCrouching Tiger,í ëLife Is Beautifulí and even ëKolyaí itself, itís tough to raise money for foreign language movies with budgets far in excess of their domestic territory norm. ëDark Blue Worldí has 10 times the average Czech film budget. We had to secure 80 percent of the finance from outside its home territory.î Abraham also pointed out a humorous irony that came out of their efforts to fund the film: ìThe former Axis powers [such as Germany and Italy] agreed to put up original financing. The former Allies [such as the United Kingdom and the United States] declined to participate until after the movie was finished. A number of seasoned distributors read the screenplay and rejected investing precisely because they couldnít imagine how we would realize the film for the relatively modest budget,î he said. ìInvention was the catchword. But then Iíve never believed that money is the midwife to creativity. Too often, too much money damages the focus of the filmmaker,î Abraham noted. ìWe are catering for an audience used to Steven Spielberg-like special effects realized on Hollywood-scale budgets so our film couldnít look ëamateurí in any department. Itís an immensely complicated film technically.î Sver·k elaborated on this lack of money: ìIn reality, ëDark Blue Worldí was made on a shoe-string, but I believe that a limited budget disciplines you to analyze just what is essential for the story and what is merely decoration. It demands that your creativity is kept on the alert throughout.î As producer, Abraham had to stretch the limited resources. ìThe 100 days of photography were an exercise in Rubik cubing, and I became expert in rustling up all kinds of toys for Jan to play withófrom a B-25 bomber, Spitfires, helicopters to ships in Cape Town. I became expert too in begging, cajoling and pleading for favors. I donít think I have a pair of trousers without holes in the knees!î Sver·k said that working in the trenches had its unexpected ups and downs. ìShooting is a time of compromise when you are constantly fighting the elements and devils of all kinds. Itís the time of battles and losses, which I donít like very much,î he said. ìI always feel that you only manage to get on film only 80 or 70, sometimes even less, percent of the original intention. If you capture something you didnít expectólike a whiff of a breeze blowing beautifully through an actressís hairóthen itís a gift. Only in the cutting room do you appreciate all the unexpectedly beautiful things that were born during the shoot.î Despite all of the obstacles they faced, Abraham praised Sver·kís directorial talents. ìJan is an extraordinary visual story-teller. He seems to have retained a childís perception of the world. He has an eye for detail and unusual ways of seeing things. His style is both simple and sophisticated, Czech-rooted but universally accessible.î Ky N. Nguyen is the film reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.