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By
Giacomo Tramontagna
"This is a story... about my best friend," says narrator Milan Dabelsky. "His name is Andel. This for Czech is
angel. He is serving one year in the military." We first see doe-eyed Andel, a healthy young man
in uniform, regulation green beret perched atop his white-sidewall haircut, heading into Prague on leave. He goes to a spot where soldiers hitch rides, and is rewarded with a lift by Pavel Dubcek, a longhaired dude with a
sly crooked smile. Dubcek chauffeurs Andel out to a lake where they swim nude and share lunch, then takes him home where they watch TV and share the contents of each other's shorts. The next morning, Andel heads back
to his base.
At the army post, Andel's colleagues devote themselves to various activities. In the mess kitchen, two guys on K.P. duty make creative use of butter. In the showers and in the gym, a four-way workout
develops. Behind closed doors (with Andel peering through the keyhole), a muscular hunk beats off. The sex, unfortunately, doesn't really come to life until the concluding segment, a three-way in the back of a truck rigged up as a
kind
of clubhouse by Andel and two buddies (Velky Curak and Libor Taborsky).
Most sequences in this long, languid sojourn in the Czech Republic are skillfully lit and shot. But much of the sex is so drawn-out and lifeless that it may induce the sort of alpha state more commonly
brought on by rigorous art things like Robert Bresson's
Une femme douce. Director Wim Hof must have told his attractive cast to restrict their expressions to winces and smirks. The hyperactive music, on the other hand, is
often antithetical to the action. Its violin-and-concertina overkill conjures up visions of robust youths and maidens clomping through the Dance of the Happy Cheesemaker at some dizzy
Transylvanian village folkfest.
This is All Worlds Video's attempt to grab a piece of the Bel Ami market.
Andel's Story's resemblance to videos
like Lukas's Story, Frisky Summer and
Wide Open straddles the line between homage and
ripoff. Director Hof concludes with a disclaimer disguised as a dedication "to my very dear friend [Bel Ami director] George Duroy. 'Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.'" That may be, but bad imitation is the least
amusing form of parody.
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