Summary
This psychological drama made by Jiří Krejčík in 1960 is one of the most acclaimed titles in Czech cinema. It was based on a story of the same name from the collection Němá barikáda (The Silent Barricade). The author of the story inspired by real events was Jan Drda, and he also participated in the screenplay for this impressive work. The film, which eschews the schematic norms of the time, is based on the murder of a 16-year-old Příbram gymnast, Antonín Stočes, who was arrested and executed during the backlash to the Heydrich assassination for speaking out against Nazi despotism. Although the story focuses on the relentlessly heroic gesture of a class teacher (the Latin scholar Málek, brilliantly played by František Smolík) toward three arrested students, it also finds room for the attitudes of the other members of small-town society. Krejčík’s sparingly conceived masterpiece is therefore not an ode to an idealised Czech character or even a homage to classic moral values, but an implacable study of the conscience of a nation, which historically only rarely showed unity in the fight against the enemy.
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