Crushing family dynamics have crushed Hana, an old-fashioned, respectable Czech mother, and a recent widow. The arrival of Brona and his sometimes depressed chicken changes the life of everyone, including Brona.
After her husband's death, Hana lives on alone in the family villa. Her two sons visit her with their families, but these visits frequently end in quarrels. When Hana meets Brona, a hardy fellow, inured to winter swimming, a new world opens before her. Brona's team-mates absorb her into their team and Hana gradually learns to overcome her fear of icy water. Her relation with Brona grows into love.—anonymous
As a traditional mother and grandmother in a respectable Czech family, Hana struggles to keep up a sense of normalcy and tradition, centered around the weekly formal Saturday meal (the kind of dynamic anyone from a European family will recognize). The facade is quickly unmasked as Hana's two sons quarrel for recognition, their wives compete and the children struggle in the oppressive environment. None care about or even seem to like their long-suffering, widowed mother. Hana's world changes when she rescues Brona from a near-fatal swim in an icy river. The culture of cold-weather-swimming and Brona's expansive and seemingly generous personality change everything. From his headquarters in a swim team bus, where he also raises chickens, old Brona shows love to Hana, who barely knows how to deal with it. Her long repressed grandson also falls under Brona's spell and begins to blossom into a maturing child, rather than a resentful, isolated and bullied boy. As Brona enters the family, the feuding brothers are unable to deal with change and the stultifying family dinner tradition begins to break down. Everyone from wives to grandchildren must adapt and change comes hard for everyone, but not without rewards. Brona himself ultimately faces a challenge to his own integrity and dominance and even he must change. The translation of the original title in Czech is Grandmother from the Ice and this is the core of the film. By dipping into icy waters, Hana emerges from an icy family trap.—George Wolff
As a traditional mother and grandmother in a respectable Czech family, Hana struggles to keep up a sense of normalcy and tradition, centered around the weekly formal Saturday meal (the kind of dynamic anyone from a European family will recognize). The facade is quickly unmasked as Hana's two sons quarrel for recognition, their wives compete and the children struggle in the oppressive environment. None care about or even seem to like their long-suffering, widowed mother. Hana's world changes when she rescues Brona from a near-fatal swim in an icy river. The culture of cold-weather-swimming and Brona's expansive and seemingly generous personality change everything. From his headquarters in a swim team bus, where he also raises chickens, old Brona shows love to Hana, who barely knows how to deal with it. Her long repressed grandson also falls under Brona's spell and begins to blossom into a maturing child, rather than a resentful, isolated and bullied boy. As Brona enters the family, the feuding brothers are unable to deal with change and the stultifying family dinner tradition begins to break down. Everyone from wives to grandchildren must adapt and change comes hard for everyone, but not without rewards. Brona himself ultimately faces a challenge to his own integrity and dominance and even he must change. The translation of the original title in Czech is Grandmother from the Ice and this is the core of the film...by dipping into icy waters, Hana emerges from an icy family trap.
