AllMovie

Recalling Woody Allen's observation that "somehow, people seem to keep trying," tenaciously enduring every tragedy and blind curve that life throws them - Marcela Haverlandova - an ordinary Czech woman at the center of writer-director Helena Trestikova's human interest documentary Marcela - evinces incredible patience and endurance over the course of 25 years of hardship. Haverlandova manages to stand tall through a slew of difficulties that would topple individuals with weaker constitutions. Trestikova filmed her "unremarkable" subject at periodic intervals between 1980 and 2005. The work commences in 1980, with then 20-year-old equestrian Haverlandova's marriage to the slightly uptight Jiri Haverland, and sees her through her first child (a daughter), a messy and acrimonious divorce, the extramarital conception and birth of a mentally-impaired son, the aforementioned daughter's bizarre death at a young age, the relentless pursuits of a threatening stalker, and a host of other complications. Through it all, Haverlandova's goals remain simple: to find love and a comfortable place to live. She consistently projects the great fighting spirit so commonly associated with the men and women of her country, and refuses to lose hope.