Czech/English Subtitles
Drama/History/Biography
1hr 58min
TomatoMeter 89%

The breathtaking story of a man gifted with exceptional healing abilities is set against the events of the totalitarian Czech 1950’s.

Charlatan (Šarlatán) is a fascinating portrait of Jan Mikolášek (Ivan Trojan), a man who was able to diagnose medical conditions relying solely on his patients’ urine.

Young Mikolášek (ingeniously cast with Trojan’s son Josef) finds his calling for herbalism after healing, then saving his sister’s leg from a gangrenous infection and near amputation. After the gruesome events of World War I, he pursues apprenticeship in his field in opposition to his father’s wishes. In time, his extraordinary skills garner him a reputation that brings hundreds of supplicants to his door, hoping to receive the medicine necessary to heal their ailments. In the late 1950s, however, a change of the Czechoslovakian government means Mikolášek is no longer favored by the totalitarian regime. Indeed, his situation grows precarious to the point of his arrest. As he awaits his trial, his life’s narrative unfolds in flashbacks.