Charlatan (2020)

Director: Agnieszka Holland
Stars: Ivan Trojan, Josef Trojan, Juraj Loj
Runtime: 118 minutes

Synopsis: The breathtaking story of a man gifted with exceptional abilities set against the background of the events of the totalitarian fifties.

Verdict: Czech Republic’s official submission for the 93rd Academy Awards, which made the February shortlist, is a biopic of a rather obscure historical figure. “Charlatan” tells the story of Jan Mikolásek, a famous Czech healer who treated his patients by eyeballing a sample of their urine and then prescribing them plant-based medication. His unorthodox methods ultimately irritated the totalitarian Communist Party that was, at the time, ruling the country, and it didn’t take long for them to seize an opportunity to go after him and his assistant.

Agnieszka Holland’s feature does a half-decent job at educating viewers about a character I’m certain most haven’t heard of. It doesn’t offer anything too fancy aside from a realistic depiction of the era in which it takes place, and even struggles to keep the pacing consistent due to its prolonged runtime and the many unnecessary detours it takes. I wasn’t a big fan of the non-linear structure its narrative adopts either as it only contributed to making the watch messier than it needed to be. However, my biggest complaint about the movie has to be its portrayal of a man whose methods are quite questionable. Instead of remaining neutral, it clearly takes the side of a person who could have very much been a con artist with no medical background making a living by abusing the faith people put in his methods. In a world where false healers are on the rise and in a climate in which the former President of the United States, only a few months ago, went out of his way to promote unproven medical procedures to fight a virus that has caused so much unrest over the last year, I’m not so certain that Mikolásek is the man we need to glorify in these extremely sensitive times.

I would tell you to read the Wikipedia page about this film’s protagonist instead of watching his biopic, but there’s barely any information about him on the web. So maybe check it out if it seems interesting to you but remember that it takes a frustrating bias position that I believe shouldn’t be promoted right now (or ever).  

FINAL GRADE: 5/10