SERVANTS

Slovakia, 2020, 77 minutes, black-and-white.
Samuel Skyva, , Samuel Polakovic, Vlad Ivanov.
Directed by Ivan Ostrochovsky.

Servants is an arresting title for this film. The setting is a seminary in Bratislava, Slovakia, 1980. The question immediately arises: are the seminarians servants of the church, servants of the state? Conflicts?

One of the co-writers of the screenplay, British writer, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, also wrote the screenplay for such striking films as Ida, Disobedience, Collett. Audiences of Central European films will immediately make a connection to Ida, Catholic themes in difficult times, black-and-white photography, brevity of the narrative, (Servants connecting with Ida and the Polish cinema, means connections with Polish films about clergy, clerical abuse in Kler, a young man masquerading as a priest in a village in Corpus Christi.)

The black-and-white photography is quite striking, use of light and shadow, unexpected angles, like an aerial shot of seminarians kicking a football, some reminiscences of Expressionist cinema. The editing and pace are quite different. Often there is a tableau-like presentation of characters and situations, some time before the characters actually speak, scenes reminiscent of silent cinema. With the editing, sometimes swift, audiences are asked to supply from their imagination and response some details as to the characters and the events. The musical score is quite wide ranging, suggestive, piano tones, orchestral during the final credits.

All this has a rather different cumulative effect on the audience.

The film opens with sinister events, depositing a dead body under an overpass. The sequence recurs later in the film, the murder of dissident priest from the seminary. However, the film is mainly about two young men, a blessing from their parish priest, a train journey to Bratislava, a rather formal entry into the seminary, their beginning their training.

The film has a lot of detail about the seminary and the staff, an unexpectedly large number of seminarians, the gatherings, instructions by the seminary Dean, meetings with the spiritual director, cassocks and formality, yet moments of sport, football, trampoline, and a table tennis match involving up to ten seminarians moving in a circle and successive men batting the ball. And surreptitious smoking on the seminary roof.

However, some of the seminarians listen to Radio Free Europe, part of the underground church, in contact with the Vatican. On the other hand, there is a Catholic group, named Pacem in Terris after the encyclical by Pope John XXIII, more of a compliant group led by the Dean.

Ultimately, the two young men are caught up in the political-religious conflicts, one making contact with dissidents, a scene with a rebel group of laity meeting and reading quite apocalyptic texts, some women present (the only women in the film apart from the nuns who work in the seminary). Then the seminarians are urged to participate in a hunger strike against the authorities who have collected all the typewriters from the seminary, trying to track down who composed dissident notices.

There is a sobering sequence when one of the young men is arrested, interrogated by a panel, standing naked before them, threatened with the draft, insinuations about his mother wanting him to be a priest. Both the young men are forced to take stances, one tragic, the other leaving the film with an open ending. (Audiences know that within the decade, the Soviet Empire will have collapsed with changes in Slovakia.)

A very interesting and challenging film, an addition to studies about Catholic priests.

1. The title? Servants of the church? Servants of the state?

2. The black-and-white photography, light and shadows, stylised compositions? Echoes of expressionist cinema?

3. The photography, like a silent film, the pauses before characters speak, aspects of tableau? Angles? Editing and pace? Audience supplying links? The effect of this kind of cinema experience?

4. The brevity of the film, the narrative, characters, situations, themes?

5. The prologue, the police, the overpass, the body? Later this sequence in detail? The identity of the body, of the police?

6. 1980, Czechoslovakia, the setting in Bratislava, the role of the government, Communist, anti-church, spies, informants, anti-church stances? Arrangements with the church in a seminary? Threats, interrogations, the police, the agents and some thuggery, torture and deaths?

7. A Slovak story, Bratislava, the seminary, the range of students and staff, the spiritual director, the Dean? The classes? The activities, the accommodation, the refectory, confession sequence? The numbers, morale? The playing of sports, the circle for table tennis? Football? Trampoline? The isolation of the students, the nuns present? No female presence? (And the glimpse of the dancing and the seminarians in pairs?)

8. The group, Pacem in Terris, its name, echoes of John XXIII? Its aim, compliant with the government? The leadership of the Dean? The members present, the silent raising of hands and approval? The reports? The group being denounced?

9. Radio Free Europe, those listening, giving information, the underground church, the contact with the Vatican?

10. The two young men, Juraj and Michael, the parish priest blessing them, going on their travels in the train, their arrival, the formality of the seminary, the cassocks, the room with the bunks? Meeting the spiritual director, the gift of the alcohol from the parish priest? The tone? Settling in?

11. The range of ordinary activities? Sport, gatherings, classes? On the roof smoking?

12. The two young men, the response to the situation, entering into seminary life? The motivation?

13. The dissident priest, the activities, his murder, depositing the body under the overpass, his funeral?

14. The character of the Dean, his age and experience, the discussions with the police officer? His determination to keep the seminary open? Compliance?

15. The police officer, living alone, his apartment, concerned about his health, looking in the mirror, his image? Government loyalty? Threats to the seminary, discussions with the Dean?

16. The agents, the behaviour, stand over tactics, the violence? The search of the seminary, collecting all the typewriters?

17. Activity in the seminary, the rebels, the notices on the notice board, typing, writing, notes under doors? The urging of the hunger strike by Michael? The seminarians sitting in the dining room, not eating? The spiritual director and his advice for more compliance?

18. The meeting outside the seminary, the group, men and women, the apocalyptic reading?

19. Juraj, the connections, his ideas, stances, the arrest, the interrogation, naked, the threats, draft for the military, the return to the seminary, the discussions with Michael, Michael revealing his role in the hunger strike? Juraj’s death, Michael in the bunk, the blood?

20. Michael, the interrogation, the spiritual director, keeping silence, his continuing his vocation?

21. The role of the church in Slovakia in the 1980s, the men with locations, their motivation, perseverance in difficult situations?