...may seem long and solemn to those used to the pacy rhythms of Hollywood films, but the sense of ennui it occasionally evokes strengthens its grip

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Jan 8, 2005

Here's a film that manages to tell its tale without pandering, without cheap melodrama, without gimmicks and without big-name stars. Instead, it simply develops its characters and lets the drama unfold naturally.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 10, 2004

When it should be building toward something stirring, Zelary instead meanders like the sheep grazing on the nearby hillsides.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 10, 2004

[E]schews... sentimentality, but we've seen this story too many times before...

| Dec 6, 2004

The story is as basic as a peasant meal -- and just as hearty.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 2, 2004

Offers a wide span of emotions and experiences.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 29, 2004

A detailed tale well told.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 18, 2004

Well-acted, well-made and moderately involving.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 12, 2004

It is a film of deep feeling, survival and sacrifice that's well acted and brought to the screen with style.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 12, 2004

Long but frequently enticing.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 11, 2004

Wallows in pretense it doesn't earn, and squanders a potentially wrenching premise by spending too much time dressing the story up in unnecessary detail.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 10, 2004

By the time it's over you find yourself wondering why more films don't have the chutzpah to delve deeper into the battle-weary heart.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 7, 2004

Despite the introduction of a few other conflicted characters and good performances all around, Zelary fails to command attention.

| Nov 6, 2004

It has too many subplots and irrelevant characters, yet it provides barely any back story or explanation.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 5, 2004

It captures a time and a place and a people with a convincing, accumulating force that proves extremely moving.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 5, 2004

Zelary opens with energetic, suspenseful scenes inside the Nazi resistance in Prague, but when a resistance spy named Hana has to go into hiding in the tiny village of Zelary, everything slows to a crawl.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 4, 2004

In a gorgeous bit of irony, death is kept in the background until AFTER the war.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 4, 2004

Humble, heartwarming storytelling with good acting and lush visuals.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 29, 2004

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 29, 2004

See it as a war romance, and you'll like it.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 22, 2004