I Served the King of England

I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND isn't the kind of comedy to throw the jokes in your face, or even make them apparent. Instead, the director Jirí Menzel uses a deadpan style that is occasionally quite subtle. At the start of the film, an old man by the name of Jan Díte is leaving prison. He narrates the rest of the film, remarking as he leaves prison that he was granted amnesty shortening his fifteen years in prison to just fourteen and nine months. He then sighs, and attempts to walk off away from the prison, but his coattail is caught in the prison door. Díte as an old man (played by Oldrich Kaiser) lives a simple life after prison. He reminisces to himself, but remains an enigmatic figure to a pretty young girl living near him. He works tirelessly, and has his eye on her most of the time, but we learn from Díte what this beauty reminds him of. In flashbacks that take up most of the film, a young Jan Díte is seen as a bumbling, innocent-looking waiter who dreams of being a millionaire in 1930's Czechoslovakia. He always wishes to be a part of the elite (the people he serves), and he slowly climbs in stature, going from being a waiter at a coffee shop for posh chess players and drinkers, to being the owner of his very own hotel. Throughout all of director Menzel's comedy in the film, which remains entertaining, an undercurrent of critique is also evident. Like Menzel's understated comedy, this serious vein is also understated, but delightful if (or when) discovered. Díte, for example, will never be accepted into the elite because he will have always have started out lowly. He does not realize this, but we know he one day will from the social standing of the older Díte. Also, Czechoslovakian politics and loyalties are on display. A restaurant won't serve a german before Hitler takes over, but after he does they are bitterly forced to, but resist by attacking defenseless germans and removing their white socks in protest. I SERVED THE KIND OF ENGLAND is a fine, erotic film which is funny, dark, and eventually satisfying.
I Served the King of England: ★★★