the audience applauded

Sadly Over-hyped

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film is based on a "true legend" and ranks on the historical scale of King Arthur. When the chieftain dies, the settlement is left to his three daughters. Libuse (Winter Ave Zoli) the youngest rules. She is a seer and a bit of a necromancer. Her one sister is a healer, while the other a priestess. She gets involved with a farmer and things to to pot. This was the part of ancient Prague that speaks English with a slight accent and the women pluck their eyebrows, wear make-up, and shave their legs. The film lacks the heavy fantasy elements of other legends which makes it interesting. The fight scenes were a joke. Premysl was a transgender fight before Andy Kaufman. Guide: Sex and nudity. No swearing.

Okay, I did research on the legend this film was based on before I wrote this review up. Can I say, if you want an accurate story to the legend, you will be disappointed. If, however, you just want a fantasy/period piece, I heavily recommend it.I think its time to tell you why I like it. I absolutely adore the cinematography. The shot compositions were near reminiscent of Werner Herzog. I am in no way comparing because Herzog will come out on top of this argument but still, I can certainly think of worse shot composition.I also think that the two leads (Libuse and Premysl) did a great job with their parts. At first I genuinely thought this would be some sort of Arn ripoff via including a relationship early on in the piece. I have read the Wikipedia article on the Libuse legend (I know, inaccurate) and she didn't know him until she sent the horse out, I do think this was for the better because it kind of explains why he becomes a "harsh king".There are a few things that I would call "wrong with this film", the most important one is sound. I have chastised movies for f*cking this up but thankfully for this film, I'm willing to forgive. The sound at a couple of times is out of synch and often soundtrack pieces just end out of nowhere. This is a major reason why its not higher up in terms of a rating.The ending has had a lot of criticism but I do feel it suits because it is reminiscent of what really happened among those times. I also feel as though the ending in itself was a harsh one to give the audience...and I actually love that.Overall, this is low budget, the director has no idea how to direct an action sequence and make it interesting or even believable for that matter, however if you are willing to forgive a few minor errors and just enjoy this film, you will.

I am writing this especially as the movie has mostly positive reviews in here and I'd like to put some counterpart to them. To make things clear, I hated the movie. Well, "hate" might be too a strong word. It is so ridiculous you can't really hate it. If I overlook the fact that it is based on Czech mythology, it is a really bad movie. The idea is OK - people should take care of nature and try to live in harmony with it. The whole thing with women being one with natural order and men being mean, arrogant machos is rather far- fetched...but OK, the director has his ideas and I'm not taking them from him. But so many other thing drag it down. Props are...mostly not there. The story barely makes sense. Actors are mostly Czech and their English sounds verrry bad. (By the way, the two actors from Libuse's entourage are known for having lived in English-speaking countries before the Velvet Revolution, so one would expect them to sound at least a little native. Well, one would be wrong.) The dialogues are ridiculous and acting beyond anything describable in human language. And I could go on. The problem is, I cannot overlook the fact that this piece of...art...is based upon Czech mythology. I don't know what people imagine when they read "based upon". Yes, the movie has some common points with the Czech stories. Like names of the characters. And some parts of plot-lines. I just don't understand why the creators did't take parts of the Czech myths they liked and didn't use them without ever mentioning the source. Well, I do. No one would care that way. This gives the movie mythological flavour and somewhat justifies how awfully bad it is. Why is Vlasta lesbian? Or transgender or whatever. Libuse never tricks her men like she does in the movie, when she purposefully sends them to Premysl (she's a seer so she doesn't need to...), it actually turns her into some sex-driven, crazy puppet-master. Libuse should be dead when the war between men and women starts (the point of this story is completely different). And nor she nor any of her sisters is supposed to be a FAIRY. I mean what the hell? I don't want to seem like I am writing this out of spite. But I really believe this movie is an insult of storytelling, the art of cinema and anyone acquainted with the original mythology...actually, maybe of the whole Czech nation.

This is a mythic tale combining legend and history, but above all it is a human drama. The Pagan Queen of the title is reputedly half Tree-elf and half human (there's a lovely myth about the girl's mother integral to the story), and her two sisters aren't fully human either, but the story doesn't directly revolve around their dual (magical or mythical) natures. Instead there is a strong message about Duality throughout the film; transitions; and balance in all things, especially human needs with nature. It's a great story and visually satisfying. Overall I really enjoyed it. One of the things I liked best about the film was that it avoided most of the clichés so inherent in this type of film. The relationships were believable and complex. Even the reactions and betrayals of the people against their beloved Queen felt real and made sense in the context of the story and the times.This is not a typical love story, and it's not your typical sword and sorcery flick. For anyone looking for lots of magic or swashbuckling sword play, you will be disappointed. The magic here is realistically spiritual and earth-based, not sparkling lights and instant fire spells. The film does a very good job of taking us back into the past and showing us what daily life and religious practices were probably really like in this time and place.Now that I know it is based on traditional Czech legends I understand why it seemed as if the movie was trying to truncate a much longer story. Much like "Lord of the Rings", if you don't know the whole tale, the movie can seem a bit disjointed. The lengthy synopsis (with spoilers) relates the legend as it was supposedly told in the movie, but it did not actually follow the movie itself. If you read that synopsis before viewing the movie you may be confused. On it's own, this movie never failed to entertain, but it did seem to struggle with timing. My biggest criticism may have had to do with the problems of making a Czech movie in English, in what surely was a second language for the actors and actresses. The main actress was lovely and the most believable, and I see a lot of promise in many of the leads, but the dialog sometimes suffered with awkward phrasing and the acting was occasionally flat--particularly the male lead.From what I read in the synopsis, this was a controversial film when it was in its theater release. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because of the way it characterized an important relationship as lesbian--at least on one side. Perhaps because it portrayed the pagan way of life as so much more inherently fair and idyllic compared to what followed. Perhaps because it was so honest in it's portrayal of people generally considered legendary or mythical. The people in this film are all too human.