You won't be disappointed!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Blistering performances.

I read tedg's review & wondered why he missed the central message of this wonderful film? Persecuted men helped another country to fight the persecutors by doing the very dangerous task of flying fighter aircraft. At the end of hostilities they go home & are persecuted by their post-war government. In the telling we see them under stress, much relieved by alcohol & why not? & responding to a few women, plus the Spitfires & beautifully filmed aerial warfare. This is the sort of things they did!! Models & radio controlled ones too, had me fooled. This is a superb film about very very brave men. You will not see better & the huge plus is, it's not Hollywood.

If you want to see the true, vile nature of Communism, watch the movie DARK BLUE WORLD. (Tvamomodrý Svet) It recounts how the brave Czech pilots who refused to surrender fled to England to join the fight against the Nazis. After the war, the Communists feared they had picked up dangerous Western ideas about freedom. So, they had these heroic Czech pilots thrown into a nightmarish prison, where some of the guards were the same Nazis they risked their lives to defeat.If Hollywood wants to understand why so many of their movies fall flat, they should compare the character drama portions of "Pearl Harbor" with this movie. In Dark Blue World, you really make a connection to all the characters. In Pearl Harbor, everyone is like some slick cartoon version of a real person.There are innumerable instances of brilliant writing in this movie. One funny scene that sticks in my mind is when the character Karel is being taught English by a rather formal Englishwoman. When he can't pronounce a word, he ridicules the lesson. In typical stoic English fashion, the teacher calmly but forcefully confronts Karel, and shames him into behaving.The aerial battle sequences in this movie are amazing, and they help to keep the movie lively. I read that it cost $11,000 an hour to rent the planes, but it was worth every penny.Ladies, you are expected to cry at sad movies, but guys.... beware! This movie would make General Patton weep. And if you are a dog lover, you'll use up half a box of Kleenex. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The best war movie from last time.. I saw this movie and Pearl Harbor in a short time distance and I have to say, that the contrast was huge. And Tmavomodry svet won by horse length. It's totally realistic and true in dog fights, the great plot and great acting. At the other hand Pearl Harbor is just mix of explosions, superheroes with "bravery" and impossible actions and on the top of that..of course happy ending. When you realize that most of the tricks (in Tmavomodry svet) were made by models and the film cost 6,5 mil. dollars. It's a masterpiece of Sverak and company. ( Pearl Harbor has 150 mil.) So I have to give 10 points for Tmavomodry svet.

I was "turned on" to this movie by my flight instructor and now I wonder how the heck it was out there for nearly five years before I finally discovered it. If you have any love of flying at all, especially an attachment to the planes of WWII, this is an absolute must see, vastly superior to the pathetic "Pearl Harbor" and up there in rivalry with the famed "Battle of Britain" filmed more than thirty years ago. There are moments when you feel as if you are flying wingman, literally dodging the shell casings of your leader as you roll in on a Me 109 or He 111. As an historian this film deeply touched me as well for it is about the plight endured by tens of thousands of gallant Poles, Hungarians, Slovaks and Czechs who in 1939-1940 fled their homelands, made it to England, fought with utmost bravery for the survival of western civilization, and then were so callously abandoned by "us" after the war when they were arrested by the communists upon their return to their native lands. I have stood atop Monte Cassino in Italy and was moved to tears by the cemetery for the Polish troops that stormed that mountain that British and Americans could not take. I have traveled as well to Prague (the most beautiful of cities) and studied their history. Their story of abandonment, I believe, should be a lesson to us even today about obligations to gallant allies. But back to the film. If you love flying, see this. If you are interested in the aircraft of WWII most definitely see it. Without doubt the most brutal, direct, and frightfully swift air combat scenes ever replicated for film. And yes, if you even are seeking a touching romance, there is that as well in heartbreaking detail.Bill Forstchen Professor of History Co-owner of a WWII replica "warbird" P-51 Mustang "Gloria Ann"