It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Calling this movie a hidden gem is nothing close to reality. I thought Dark Blue World was just an average movie with a quite weak storyline. For a war movie, and in this case about aviation, the air battles were pretty boring, certainly not spectacular like they should have been if you wanted a great movie. The romantic part of the story was also not very appealing to watch. Add on that the lack of information on how one of the main characters got caught and got in prison and you get an average war movie. Lately I saw much better war movies that deserve a good rating because they're just way better than this one. I think about Anthropoid, The Brest Fortress, Dunkirk, Allied, Kajaki, all those war movies are you could say hidden gems for some. Watch those instead of Dark Blue World.

it is a special movie. not great, not only touching, not pure good. but special. because it remains a not very known chapter from WW II. because it change the image about a country and a people. because it presents, in inspired manner, two sides of same story - heroism and oppression, the love and the absurd of history. it is impressive for its delicate way to suggest. for the virtue to be a testimony. fragile, delicate, not comfortable but wise expression to discover the truth behind the verdicts. a courageous movie about the courage. that seems be all. and, after decades, picture from Mitteleuropa out of clichés circle. maybe, a history lesson. or only a good script and inspired actors.

I bought this DVD after merely glancing at its cover -- I love Spitfires -- and expected it to be a black-and-white British flag waver with everyone showing a stiff upper lip and much stock newsreel footage. Maybe there would be good-natured competition over some succulent beauty, as in "A Yank in the RAF" or "The Immortal Sergeant." But, no. It's not that at all.It's a modern Czech movie finely photographed in color. There are combat scenes, to be sure, but the RAF seems to lose as many planes as it shoots down -- and without any facile justification. The acting is good and the characters not stereotyped. Although there are two Czech pilots wooing the same supernal babe, the rivalry is hardly good natured, and in the end they both lose her. Friends die, of course, but when they do, the sentiment is not laid on with a trowel. I even like the title -- "Dark Blue World." Dark blue, as in an RAF uniform, or under the surface of the English channel or ten thousand feet in the air at sunrise. Excuse me if I have trouble with the names. Some of them seem to be all consonants and no vowels. I hope my Czech grandmother forgives me. Anyway, the story centers around two pilots -- the baby-faced and naive Karyl and the less emotional senior officer Frantisek. Both fliers manage to escape from Czechoslovakia after the Germans take over. The Germans, by the way, are for the most part treated reasonably. One officer smirks and is and insulting; the German doctor is generous and fatalistic. When they reach an England desperate for pilots, there are some comic scenes of their having to learn English -- the difference, for instance, between "borrow" and "lend." Then there are the scenes of aerial combat. Back to the Spitfires. Everybody in the movie flies Spitfires -- beautiful, nimble, graceful airplanes. Nobody flies Hurricanes. We don't even see any other airplanes, except a B-25 and a couple of anachronistic Bf-109 models cribbed from "The Battle of Britain." (One shot is an exact duplicate.) The visual and sound effects are much improved over "The Battle of Britain".The neotenic Karyl is shot down somewhere in England and spends the night at a farmhouse. He's young, horny, and blunt, and the woman is married to someone who has gone missing in the Navy. She sleeps with him partly out of hunger and partly out of pity for his childish need. Her allegiance later switches to Franisek and it gets complicated, but it's all handled delicately, even Karyl's thinking he's deeply in love while swimming in endorphins.Structurally, there are some flash forwards and you have to look out for them at first otherwise you'll find them confusing, but you adapt after you realize what's going on.The ending, when Franisek returns to Czechoslovakia and his early love, isn't a particularly happy one. The Allies have won, of course, and Czechoslovakia is once again free for a few years, but, as in real life, the cost has been monumental on everyone's part.

I enjoyed Dark Blue World but felt there was a lot more we could have learned from this film. It's well acted and beautifully filmed. The air combat scenes are quite good. (Note: I am almost certain that a number of the large scale air combat scenes and some of the single aircraft scenes were cut straight from "The Battle of Britain.") I found the love story to be rather unconvincing. I think there was a lot more that could have been done to give you a better picture of what these guys went through. I mean, one minute two guys are riding a motorcycle down a road to flee from the German occupation. Then they immediately shift to England. It would have been a good part of the story to show what they went through to get there. (Spoiler)It also would have been very interesting to see how the transition to home, Soviet occupation, and ultimately prison camp worked out.So, this movie is very much worth seeing. But you may no learn as much about the experiences of the Czech fliers as you might want to.