I Served the King of England

Jan Dite, a short waiter, wants one thing: to become a millionaire. Working the hotels of pre-war Czechoslovakia he learns how to serve the rich, then switches sides during the German occupation by marrying a pro-Nazi woman. When he leaves prison, all he has left is his story. Jiri Menzel directed, from Bohumil Hrabal's novel; he was already known for his Hrabal adaptations. Getting the film made took over a decade, and not for technical reasons. The rights moved between producers, several famous Czech directors were attached in turn, and at one point the story was being developed as a television serial. The hardest moment came in 1998: on learning that his producer had sold the rights, Menzel attacked the man with a stick at the Karlovy Vary festival. The stick was later sold at auction. The film finally opened at the end of 2006, its tone insistently light given the weight of the material. Who it is for: admirers of the ironic Czech tradition. Who it is not for: anyone wanting history treated gravely; even the occupation is played at comic tempo.