Inspired by the true story of a Czechoslovakian public radio station, the Jiri Mádl-directed drama centers on two young brothers during the Prague Spring and the aftermath of the Warsaw Pact invasion.

A new energy flowed in the Czechoslovakia after Alexander Dubcek became its leader in 1968. The statesman championed reforms that expanded freedom of speech, protection of press rights and economic programs prioritizing working class people without radically disrupting the nation’s communist framework. The Soviet Union loathed the plan and sought to suppress it with force. Their military intervention, in which the government and its Warsaw Pact allies sent in troops to end that period now known as the Prague Spring. 

With its focus on the news gathering process, Waves affirms the importance of independent and ethical reporting. Mádl’s film, which as of now is still seeking U.S. distribution, might have particular resonance with American audiences wrestling with the reality of misinformation and the shifting image of the journalist in the public imagination. How the press research and present their stories has never been more important. 

But Paja isn’t as concerned about that kind of state intervention. The youngest wants a revolution; he participates in clandestine meetings and demonstrations with other student activists fighting for free speech. They are inspired by the work of Weiner (Stanislav Majer) at the radio station. 

Mádl begins Waves with a deft staging of the brothers’ diverging interests. The opening montage introduces a thrilling tension that the director smartly maintains throughout the film, interspersing chaotic scenes of protestors, Paja somewhere in their midst, fending off police, with quiet, domestic ones of Tomás toasting bread and calling neighbors in search of his brother.

Upon returning home, Paja tells Tomás in an excited burst of energy about an opening at the Weiner’s radio show. There’s an audition — a test of sorts — for the coveted position the next day, and Paja wants to apply. Tomás forbids it, but Paja, in the style of rebellious teens and younger siblings everywhere, ignores him. Somehow both brothers end up at the test and, in an ironic twist, Tomás gets the job. 

But just as Tomás acclimates to his new life, he is asked by his former boss (and then threatened by state police forces) to essentially become an informant. He reluctantly agrees, and Vodochodský’s performance soars in these moments where the soft-spoken Tomás finds himself in ethically murky territory. A visceral sense of hurt and anxiety flash across the actor’s face as his character weighs the pain of snitching on his colleagues and the grief of losing his only surviving family, which complicates our understanding of his character.

There are times, though, when Mádl’s screenplay undercuts this work by briefly abandoning Tomás and Paja to consider secondary plotlines (office affairs, general politicking). There are moments when Mádl leaves Paja for so long that his re-entry into the story feels abrupt. One wishes that the brothers were given more screen time to wrestle with how their respective political leanings challenge and change their relationship. 

Still, Waves excels in other areas, particularly when it comes to Mádl’s use of archival footage. The director scatters these clips throughout this film, sometimes making the grainy footage of Czech citizens storming the streets during a protest or the Soviet Union tanks rolling into Prague seem indistinguishable from this fictionalized retelling. The effect is dizzying in a good way. It elegantly connects Waves to the real-life past, making it easier for viewers to leave understanding why protecting this kind of principled reporting will be necessary to the future.