''A Story about a Bad Dream'' () is a 2000 docudrama made by Czech director Pavel Štingl, dramatizing the diary of , a young girl who survived the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. The film based on her 1994 memoir ''Vyprávěj mámo, jak to bylo'' ell Me Mom How It Wasuses reenactments. With its child narrator and naive view of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it can appeal to a younger audience.

Summary

''A Story about a Bad Dream'' is an account of the Holocaust told from the perspective of a young girl, who makes sense of the world from her parents' expressions and her own feelings of discomfort and unhappiness. "Suddenly I was like a grown up," the young narrator confides, describing her arrival at the deportation camp, "I had to take care of myself." Honest and unabashed, the girl Evie offers a unique and highly personal look at the brutality played out during the Second World War. Evie, like most children, believes her parents control the universe, so she's terrified and shocked when she sees them powerless to Nazi orders. When the family is told of their forced relocation to

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...

, Evie catches the nuances in her parents' expressions and behavior. "I've never seen my parents look so serious," she confides, and their change in demeanor frightens her. Disease, squalor and death are prevalent at the camp. When they were later sent to a concentration camp, her father was separated from her and her mother. Hunger left Evie looking like a skeleton. When all hope seems to be lost, Evie miraculously escaped and was rescued. The style of the film is consistently childish. Drawing directly from what's written in the diary, the narrator's vocabulary is too immature to be affected by political correctness,

cliché A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...

, and

prejudice Prejudice can be an affect (psychology), affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived In-group and out-group, social group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classifi ...

. While the narrator's speech might be limited, the tone is unavoidably honest. Later, when she's riding up to the home of the modest

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

farming family who rescues her, she says, "I felt like a princess approaching her castle."

Awards

The film won an award at the

Trilobit Award The Trilobit Award () is an annual award that recognize accomplishments in filmmaking and television. It is one of highest awards of achievement in film awarded in the Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historica ...

s in 2000.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Story About A Bad Dream, A 2000s Czech-language films Czech independent films 2000s avant-garde and experimental films Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust Docudrama films 2000 films Czech avant-garde and experimental films