Nowadays, the tactic the terrorists using is to ram a truck into the crowds. Since the automobile revolution, such incidents have been called accidents. But there were some intentional incidents and this is was one of those. If I'm not wrong, this could be the first such event that recorded as early as in the 1973. Olga Hepnarova in her 20s has not had a pleasant life so far. Victim of bullying, family trouble, she left alone to be a loner most of her life. Her sexual life was another obstacle to get along with the society, but she had a decent paying job. And then suddenly, unexpectedly, she unleashes her inner devil.Like I said, what this film based on was simply another crime. But what's happening right now made it to get into the spotlight. Otherwise, I don't think they would have made this film. Yes for nationally, but Internationally, there would have been less interested in it. Now this story is definitely an international level. Everyone would know about Olga. The actress who played that role was good too.The film was black and white. Gives a perfect 70s look. Though a little boring film. The screenplay was not engaging enough. There were too many plain scenes like what we see the art films. They should have highlighted more on the bully and other Olga's struggling life, I mean physically. What I saw was leaning towards the side of the story result. The film is not for everyone, particularly being dull presentation makes people turn it down. Otherwise, it's not bad to ignore.5/10

For the second consecutive year the cinematheque in my city hosts a Czech Film Festival, and the most interesting film I have seen by now is this work co-directed by Petr Kazda and Tomás Weinreb describing an event that took place more than 40 years ago in what was then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It was by all criteria a shocking event, especially for the 'quiet' and 'normalized' Czechoslovakia of the 1970s. Today we would immediately suspect a terror attack, but the roots of crime of the girl who one day drove her truck in a bus station in Prague killing eight people have their origins not in ideology but in a deep personal trauma and in the complete failure of a system that could not perform basic obligations to its citizens, and even less knew how to tolerate differences and deal with the individuals in trouble.Olga Hepnarova grew up in a mid-class normative family, but was by all criteria a non-normative young woman – rebel, non-communicative, isolated by her school and work colleagues, a lesbian in a society that did not tolerate homosexuality. I found the acting performance of Michalina Olszanska to be superb, she is living within her character, the desperation and mute cry for help of Olga crosses the screen. Can her deeds be pardoned? Hardly so, as eight innocent people lost their lives in an act of violence that she considered to be a revenge on the system. Is the environment she lived in responsible also for her situation? So it seems, as she seems to be permanently looking for something or somebody to cling on, but she finds nothing in the system (doctors, psychologists, companies she worked for) and nobody among her family or the people she meets who can or wants to help. She is described as a schizophrenic, considered herself bullied and persecuted by everybody around, and had a strange detachment between her intelligence and the way she lived, her actions and reality. Only in the last very moment she seems to have realized that that was for real, and of course, that was too late.Directors Petr Kazda and Tomás Weinreb decided to make this film in the style of the good Czech cinema of the 1960s. This is reflected not only the black-and-white coloring, but also in the approach in describing the daily reality. We are in Czechoslovakia of those times, we see how people lived and the problems they faced, we are faced with the dullness and lack of hope of their lives, but the critic of the system is never explicit . The script is written and the film is made like censorship is still in place. Good story telling, inspired editing, and excellent acting performances make this film interesting, although we know the end (and the Czech viewers know even better the story). It's not easy to watch as this is a grim story with an unavoidable tragic ending, a spiral of fall and desperation that never provides a ray of hope – but those who are interested in the life of that side of the Iron Curtain during the cold war and in good cinema will be rewarded.

In Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1973, Olga Hepnarová drove her truck through a crowd of elderly people waiting on the sidewalk. Olga's actions were deliberate and planned….and she ended up killing 8 innocent people in the process. Now, over four decades later, filmmakers Petr Kazda and Tomás Weinreb have brought her story to the big screen—perhaps in light of several similar acts committed throughout the world by jihadists. But viewers of the film need to be a very specific and patient lot, as the movie clearly is not one intended for the average viewer.The film begins the teenage Olga attempting suicide and as a result being incarcerated in a rather awful mental hospital. While the film didn't make this clear, she apparently was in and out of mental institutions during much of her life. The film then picks up with Olga as a young adult, working and having various sexual relationships. The publicity material for the film describes her as a lesbian and the film also takes that approach, though I read up on her and apparently she was bisexual. I am not sure why they chose to portray her as a lesbian but viewers will see quite a bit of Olga and several of her lovers. Regardless, this is not a film for the prudish. It is odd that Olga is shown as being so sexual since she also had a very strong hatred for the human race and felt she was the world's 'whipping boy'. The film uses the German word 'prügelknabe'—which I had to look up on the internet and I am mentioning this in case you see the film and find yourself confused by the term. But regardless, Olga hated people and had a very strong persecution complex. And, as a result, she apparently felt completely justified to murder the people at the bus stop. Now it's obvious that Olga was not in her right mind. She was flat emotionally and intensely angry deep within her. Most would consider her insane. However, she knew what she was doing and simply did not care and admitted this freely in court. So what was the court to do with her?This is a very well crafted film. The filmmakers used black & white footage which I think was a good move since the story took place in the late 60s and early 70s. Michalina Olszanska also did a superb job portraying the title character as it would not be easy playing someone with so little emotion nor with much connection to others. But this brings up a problem…if the main character is this emotionally constricted and the film is told from her point of view, is it an easy film to watch? This is obviously no for most people. You have to have an interest in the subject matter and you have to be very patient, as the film is slow and almost completely bereft of energy. Olga is severely depressed…and it is draining, at times, watching her. I was able to stick with this because of my own background as a therapist, though I sure could have done without the vomiting scene early in the film. I have no idea why in recent years filmmakers have decided to show close-ups of folks throwing up…and I think this is perhaps taking realism a bit too far. Overall, for the right viewers, "I, Olga" is well worth seeing but for most it's just too much of a downer.

To fully appreciate this film one probably should have a minimum knowledge about psychiatry and of schizophrenia in general.The main character in this film, Olga Hepnarova, is IMO one of the best depictions of a schizophrenic person I've ever seen in a movie. In this regard, the movie makers did an extraordinary good job. The atmosphere of the film is dark, yet the individual scenes are often banal and the dialogues short and often flat and trivial. This however is not of disadvantage to the movie as one would expect. It actually helps to unfold to the viewer the deep, but chaotic and hate-focused thoughts that go inside the mind of Hepnarova. The scenes where she contemplates the traumatizing experiences of her life are deep and sad, showing that she is a very complex and deeply thinking person, but at the same time they succeed to NOT depict her as a martyr, which she clearly fails to be. She despises society and is fond to do it a favor (by killing herself) only in her best life-time when she's deeply in love (with her lesbian lover). Hepnarova is evil, but in the movie it looks more like real-world-evil with its full complexity and context, not the common flat movie-evil known from pop-culture. This also adds to the uniqueness of the movie and probably makes many viewers to sympathize with her. Not to mention the great acting by Michalina Olszanska.I would appreciate more family scenes in the film. I think it would be beneficial for a better understanding of Hepnarova's mind. In particular the roots of her hatred towards her family. But in conclusion I have to take my hat off to the movie makers, they exactly knew what they wanted to deliver and they delivered it. A sad depiction of a sick mind driven to the edge (partially by the society and partially by herself) until the bitter end.