Moral dilemmas have always been central to Czech director Jan Hrebejk's work - articulated the most effectively in 2000's Divided We Fall.
Nearly a decade after that Oscar-nominated international breakthrough, the filmmaker again delved into his country's tortuous 20th-century past for a tale about a compromised man. Released in 2009 - when the Czech Republic was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, which brought an end to authoritarian rule in that country - Kawasaki's Rose revolves around Pavel (Martin Huba, above right), a psychiatrist about to receive an award for his work as a dissident during the communist era. The aura dissipates when his disgruntled son-in-law, Ludek (Milan Mikulchik), discovers a secret police dossier documenting Pavel's role in the persecution and exile of a sculptor, Borek (Antonin Kratochvil).
Hrebejk sets his film nearly entirely in the present. Kawasaki's Rose - which refers to the work of Borek's Japanese artist friend - is about exploring how past misdeeds catch up with people. Pavel is revealed as less a villain than a pawn in a system that manipulated and exploited the weaknesses of its brow-beaten denizens. It's a picture of internal corruption that hasn't eased even with the demise of oppression. Tomorrow, 7.50pm, Broadway Cinematheque; Sunday, 6.05pm, Palace IFC.