PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Jan Gebert, director of the documentary When the War Comes.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

Jan Gebert presented his documentary When the War Comes at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Documentary Film Festival, where it was screened in the Czech Films strand, which highlights standout Czech films of the past season. The film documents a Slovak paramilitary group, but it is also a universal story about fascism. Even more, Gebert gets so close to his protagonists that we somehow get through the facade and see the human side and the human face of a fascist.

When the War Comes: “We’ll become legends of our time,” states one of the members of the Slovak Recruits paramilitary group, which puts young people through inhumane drills and aims to “defend and preserve the nation”. Jan Gebert’s documentary, screened at the Berlinale, observes a youngster with authoritarian inclinations, part of a growing nationalism in unexpected age groups.