Chronicling the lives of ordinary Czechoslovakian citizens against the backdrop of 20th century history, Jan Sikl's deftly edited eight episodes collectively titled Private Century (Soukrome stoleti) compare thematically with Marco Tullio Giordana's brilliant The Best of Youth. While not as tightly constructed as the six hour Italian saga, Sikl's 408 minute collage paints an invaluable portrait of Czech history, highlighted by vignettes illustrating the impact of communism on its people. European and world history teachers will want to get hold of the Facets Video release to illustrate a humanistic approach to history that goes far beyond the impact of the ordinary printed text.

Prague filmmaker Jan Sikl uses his wide ranging experience Czech television experience to mine authentic stories based on extraordinary home movie footage for this series. Sifting through several hundred hours of raw film material, he also gleaned long discourses of personal recollections from surviving family members. The result is a remarkably engaging and intimate narrative about the everyday lives of people coping with relationships and mundane challenges that face us all with the caveat of great historical events in the background—the Depression, WWII and Nazi occupation, increasing Russian influence and the rise of Communism.

Of the eight episodes, two pairs are interrelated since they involve people from the same family and show a different point of view and/or a continuation of the narrative. Those are the first two about a family that lived on the Czech-German border during the 1930s and 40sand the final pair about Russian immigrants to Czechoslovakia that follows the Popov family from just after the Russian Revolution to the 1960s. Originally shown on television, the eight episodes are now compiled on one DVD:

1. "King of Velichovky"
2. "Daddy and Lili Marlene"
3. "Statuary of Grandad Vinda"
4. "See You in Denver"
5. "A Stroke of Butterfly Wings"
6. "With Kisses from Your Love"
7. "Small Russian Clouds of Smoke"
8. "A Low Level Flight"

The photography for episodes three, four, and six are especially dynamic and often well framed, likely due to the fact that aspiring artists are participants and photographers. In the third episode, cantankerous sculptor Vincenc Havel is the central figure. Although he prided himself on independence and frequently isolated himself from the world, he ended up crafting a number of sculptures for the communist state and never achieved the artistic status that he firmly believed he deserved.

Even more cinematic artistry is evident in episode six since the subjects come from a long film tradition. Chief protagonist Frantisek Hvanhara was an aspiring filmmaker, and his father had founded a film distribution company. After the elder Hvanhara lost his business after WWII, Frantisek shot a number of amateur films (primarily based on American westerns); a number of clips are included here. With greater quantity of film selections, Sikl includes sequences from a larger year span for this episode, giving us a bigger view of how historical events touched this family—most dramatically illustrating the repressive communist regime that unjustly imprisons the protagonist to the point that he eventually leaves Czechoslovakia to visit the settings of his favorite U.S. western films, foreshadowed by the episode's title "See You in Denver."

The second disk contains more personal narratives that describe first loves, unrequited loves, family life, love affairs, marriage problems, and other soap opera themed material all drawn with the 1948 Communist coup in the background. And it really is in the background though the film very effectively destroys any high ground that the regime may claim. The family dramas really illustrate how they essentially strive to be apolitical and struggle to survive and make the best of their situation. One exception to this is lovingly told in episode six, where state politics intervenes directly into the Slechtl family.

As I watched the various home movies, sewn together with music bits and voice-over narrations, often I'd wonder just who was shooting these scenes. So many contain the main characters that there had to be an unknown family member seeking just the right moment to roll their hand held camera, and what amateur occasionally would try out their skill with a tracking shot. Of course, credit for Private Century must go to Sikl's considerable editing skills to create a very profound historical record.