Wow, I was concerned that this foreign film would bore me, but boy, I was wrong. Great acting, writing, and deeply developed characters. The critics were right about this one. Very moving movie.

Exceptional film with fine performances from the leads.

I didn't like it as much as I thought I would have. The characters were all very interesting and had their own personal stories to tell,all of them exceptional in their own way,but I didn't like some of the turns the plot took. I think somewhere in there hides a really great movie,the thing is it's lost in all the twists and turns in the plot. It was too long for its own good and it really bored me at times.

The cinematography was exquisite and the characters were, for the most part, likable and relatable.

I thought it was excellent. Very well acted and convincing.

VENKOVSKY UCITEL (TE COUNTRY TEACHER)

Skvelà 1/2 film. Kde sme my a kde česká kinematografia. Odraz spoločnosti, kde top scenárista je Kraus a top her. celbrity Fialavá, Kramár a pod. Za 20 rokov sme nenatočili jeden film, čo by mal najmenšie medzinárodnà (C) ašpirácie (včetne stupídnej Bathoričky)

Cinematography and performances could definitely earn 4 stars and up but a film cannot live on those alone. The sparse and at times insipid script (the Czech was so embarrassing I read the subtitles) and more or less predictable situations take away a lot from what could have been an opportunity to explore the subject.

This was a film that will make some very uncomfortable and that portrays some very real people dealing with some very real issues. Petr (Pavel Liska) is a tormented soul who relocates from a posh private school in Prague to a small-town public school. The reasons for his leaving only become clear as the film progresses. He befriends a widow, Marie (Zuzana Bydzovská), and her troubled son, Lada (Ladislav Sedivà 1/2). But the friendship is hampered by Petr's personal issues, and by the history that his new friends have experienced. All of this is carefully revealed through a natural story-telling style that kept the viewer engaged. There were a few issues that rankled, including some playing to stereotype, and a couple of very annoying characters. Although the flaws keep this viewer from giving it more than three stars, it was not enough to put one off completely.

"The Country Teacher" moves incredibly slowly, but it's a decent drama with interesting characters. I really liked Pavel Liska as the teacher, Petr. This is definitely a character-driven film, and "The Country Teacher" really gives you a good look at its characters. For those who don't know, it's essentially about a teacher (in roughly his early thirties) who takes a job in the country and becomes infatuated with a teenage boy. At the same time he forms a close friendship with the boy's mother. You really sympathise with Petr in this movie - which says something about Liska's acting because he's playing a 30-something year old man hitting on a really young boy who doesn't seem interested. Poor guy just looked so depressed the entire movie, and you can see why.

First Czech movie I ever saw and I was really pleasantly surprised, beautiful scenery. I loved especially the very low profile acting of all the actors, made me really a part of the Czech countryside and the complicate lifes the inhabitants live. In three words very good movie.....

Slow-paced but very captivating. A nice study of people struggling to come to terms with what hand life has dealt them. You could imagine Clint Eastwood directing something like this.

A liesurely, low-key tale about a sad-sack Czech teacher who retreats to the countryside to sort himself out but finds his problems are far from over. The titular character isn't exactly the best of gay role models, he seems to have a harder time accepting himself than those around him, but the film has a real sense of emotional honesty. The pacing won't be to everyone's taste, nor will the characters, but there are worse things you can do with two hours of your life.

In "The Country Teacher," the headmaster(Cyril Drozda) wonders why Petr(Pavel Liska) has come to the country from Prague to teach. Could it have something to do with his formerly teaching in the same school as his mother(Zuzana Kronerova)? Regardless, Petr fits in well in his new home, befriending Marie(Zuzana Bydzovska), a single mother and farmer, but chooses not to reciprocate her feelings. And he's gay, by the way. "The Country Teacher" is a gentle movie whose impact is lessened by its rambling episodic structure. On the other hand, it does work well with the bucolic setting of a small town where the rapid transit consists of tractors and a rowboat.(Actually, there is one bus...) And the movie gracefully treats its characters without condescension, using the slow pace of the characters' lives to represent the slow pace of the acceptance of gay rights in the Czech Republic. Along these same lines, the movie takes a very cautious approach(we find out Petr's gay when he tells his mom) and in a dark moment, it reinforces a particularly nasty stereotype.

A languid film into which dramatic vignettes drop, almost like a surprising find of a piece of actual strawberry in strawberry ice cream. Anyway, a conflicted gay man exiles himself to the country, where he takes a job as a teacher and is quite good at it. He attracts the attention of the local widow, but her teen rebel son is more his bag, with disastrous consequences. A lovely film about desire and papering over one's difficulties with the pleasure of 'honest' work.

Quietly intense film about damaged people figuring out how to reconnect with the world around them. Ultimately hopeful without going overboard with sentiment. Really good.

Beautiful, funny, very sad and human. A remarkable film.

The film starts as a school teacher moves from teaching a school in the big city to teaching at a school in a small country village. It doesn't take long before it's clear that he's escaping something - desperately wanting to leave something behind and start over again. When his past catches up with him it becomes clear that there is no escaping it - you are what you are. Set in a typical everybody knows everybody small village this film plays out pretty smoothly, telling its sad tale at a very steady pace. The actors are doing their jobs flawlessly, playing their roles in a most believable way giving the film a very "real" feeling and it becomes very easy to grow sympathy for the characters - enough to overcome the mistakes they make in their lives. I guess one message the film is telling us is that the road to happiness is marked with pit holes and bumps and that it leaves you bruised and battered. It's a good message and makes for a solid but somewhat painful film. 8 out of 10 steps on a wobbly road

The Country Teacher showed the love and loss from the people of a dairy farm in the Czech Republic. It was an inspiring movie about the struggle of a gay teacher for acceptance in a small village. The movie had beautiful cinematography of the Czech countryside.Most of the movie was shown through the view of the main character, the teacher, but also showed us how things could be different, not always were gays accepted.The teacher clearly had secrets, the plot did not showed much as the movie fold on his integration into an environment different from the world of Prague where he came from.I don't want to go into details about the story, if the gay teacher should be forgiven for what he did or not, watch for yourself, it was very strong and very touching.

The Country Teacher showed the love and loss from the people of a dairy farm in the Czech Republic. It was an inspiring movie about the struggle of a gay teacher for acceptance in a small village. The movie had beautiful cinematography of the Czech countryside.Most of the movie was shown through the view of the main character, the teacher, but also showed us how things could be different, not always were gays accepted.The teacher clearly had secrets, the plot did not showed much as the movie fold on his integration into an environment different from the world of Prague where he came from.I don't want to go into details about the story, if the gay teacher should be forgiven for what he did or not, watch for yourself, it was very strong and very touching.