Zákon Helena

Petra Nesvačilová turned her camera toward Helena Káhnová, a Czech police officer central to the prosecutions of the 1990s Berdych gang. The film follows Káhnová's role in investigations that led to dozens of convictions, including the gang's leader, with combined sentences totaling hundreds of years. It contrasts Káhnová's official trajectory, which briefly earned her a CZK 10,000 reward and a promotion that was later withdrawn, with Nesvačilová's risky choice to engage directly with imprisoned and former gang members. The director builds personal contact with Radek Berdych and others, recording candid conversations that probe motive, consequence, and the messy intersection of law, memory, and reputation. Nesvačilová's presence in the interviews raises awkward power dynamics and moral ambiguity often visibly on camera.

Released in 2016 and directed by Petra Nesvačilová, Zákon Helena is a Czech documentary driven by first-hand interviews and archival case material. Nesvačilová's dual background as an actress and filmmaker shapes the film's intimate, character-focused approach, and it played at local festivals and regional art-house circuits.

Box office information for Zákon Helena is not widely reported, indicating a limited theatrical presence focused on Czech venues and festival screenings. The documentary reached viewers through festivals, public television, and niche streaming rather than mainstream commercial release, and retrospectives.

Public ratings and reviews are scarce, with few aggregated scores or audience votes available. The film raises questions about justice, personal recognition, and ethical boundaries in journalism and policing. It asks how rewards, institutional choices, and personal relationships rewrite criminal histories and shape public memory, and fragile witness testimony.

Within the Czech Republic the film fed conversations about 1990s organized crime and how the state rewarded or sidelined key actors. By recording a policewoman as well as convicted figures, it challenged audiences to reconsider heroic narratives, institutional accountability, and the ethics of intimacy when documenting controversial lives in media discourse.