There is no way to watch this and not think about the tragedy that was about to be played out as other nations arranged to dismember the 19 year old country and then went on to wage a second world war.
This gives a helpful introduction to the history of the region, and an appreciation of Prague's own roots, with landmarks dating to the 14th century including an impressive Jewish clock which had Hebrew symbols and ran the opposite way and a Christian clock with imaginative moving parts. One has to wonder what the Nazis did when they saw the Jewish clock. Was that shown purposefully in juxtaposition with the Christian clock because of Hitler's anti-Semitism or simply because both were unusual? "What does it profiteth a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?" That line means something additional to us in regard to 1938 than was perhaps intended as a comment on WWI.
We saw a small portion of the Czech army and know their work was hopeless after Hitler got what he wanted including the border fortifications and the advantages of terrain and raw materials in the Sudetenland. The national parade was pointed out as totally nonmilitary, with guns supplanted by feet that dance. It represented the principles of liberty, fraternity, and equality, and the hopes for the future of Czechoslovakia.
This film was beautiful and gave a hint of what might have happened if Hitler had not come onto the world scene. We know what they went through during the Soviet occupation. We know that the Czechs and Slovaks eventually decided on an amicable divorce. It is impossible to watch this with any sort of historical insight at all and not feel how utterly delusional many people were on the eve of catastrophe, willing themselves to believe the sequel of WWI was not about to come to a movie theater near them, not to mention a home near them. The only positive aspect I could feel while watching the festivities was that they at least had a moment of happiness, color, fun, because it was going to be a REALLY long time until it happened again.
I found this film to be deeply disturbing and foreboding. I highly recommend it.