The "Year of the Devil" is a 2002 Czech movie that has won a bevy of awards in the Czech Republic. It stars a number of apparently very prominent Czech musicians (including Jaromir Nohavice, Karel Plihal and the band Czechomor) in a not quite true to life documentary about Nohavice's alcoholism, Plihal's emotional breakdown during which he did not speak for a year, and their recovery tour with Czechomor. While sticking to the facts in a general manner, there is a lot of mockumentary fol-de-rol thrown in, including a Dutch photographer, filming everything that is going on and himself become part of the show, and a general theme of people disappearing through spontaneous combustion. AA is featured (is it glorified or critiqued? hard to say), as is spiritualism (non-main stream) of the highest order. The movie switches between English and Czech, with the subtitles moving just as rapidly; I found that to be a little headache producing.
Did I enjoy the movie? I found it interesting. Not enjoyable. Should everyone run and see it? No. Unless you are Czech, and know the characters, and know the music. Then it is apparently a do not miss situation.
It played at the Avalon, as part of their once a month Czech film series.
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