Two-thirds of the way into "The Country Teacher" we see country-bumpkin mom Marie, a weathered, loveless woman with loose red pigtails and overalls, cleaning up a vomit-splattered floor. We get the feeling that quite a few of the characters in Czech director Bohdan Slama's latest film have been wiping up vomit all their lives.

Marie, a divorced cattle herder who cruises around town in a rundown farm cart, lives with her teenage son, Lada, a pale, sensitive loner who could've stepped out of an American Apparel ad. Lada's precocious girlfriend, Bara, also spends time at the house.

When a young schoolteacher, Peter (Pavel Liska, a Slama regular), from Prague comes to teach the backwoods local kids, the school principal figures he must be harboring a deep, dark secret. Why else would the guy want to teach a classroom full of hicks for a crummy salary?

Peter and Marie become fast friends, distracting each other from their loneliness. Peter shares a childhood memory of his blind grandfather helping rid a neighbor's yard of an unwanted boulder: The old man felt for the rock's weak spot, then shattered it with a single whack. Marie cuddles up to the young teacher, who rejects her advances.

Turns out Peter is gay. And he has a thing for young Lada. Emotions are kept in check until Peter's ex-boyfriend George arrives. Sensing Peter's weakness for Lada, George takes off with the girlfriend. A brokenhearted Lada ends up so wasted, he crashes with Peter, who takes advantage of him before the boy runs off, leaving Peter crying into his pillow.

Peter faces an angry Lada and wants to know: Can you forgive me? Then asks Marie: Can you forgive me, please? Not that their answers matter; he can't forgive himself.

"The Country Teacher" ambles along like a herd of anxious cattle. Despite all the pain and self-loathing of its wounded characters, it's a pretty, heartwarming picture that tells us everybody needs somebody to help shatter that ol' boulder for good, and maybe clean up some vomit along the away.

--Kate Kilpatrick (June 26, 2009)

Contains adult themes and two calf birthings. In Czech with English subtitles.