Long Live the Republic!

Thanks to filmmakers of the New Wave in Czechoslovak cinema the previously entrenched, ideologically hijacked view of World War II underwent a re-evaluation during the 1960s. One of the earliest films of this type is a drama made in 1965 and released under the rather ironic title of Ať žije republika (Long Live the Republic!). A breakthrough film, it was the result of a very rewarding cooperation between director Karel Kachyňa and screenwriter Jan Procházka. Back then, at the dawn of the 1960s, the more tendentious war drama Práče (The Slinger, 1960) had been added by the director, then aged 41, to his filmography. This earlier story of a young participant in the bitter battle for the Dukla Pass contrasts sharply with the tale of 12-year-old Olin, through whose eyes we witness the final days of the war. The Moravian village of Nesovice becomes the stage for accelerating events as both the frontline and the war’s end approach. The young protagonist lives in fear of his strict father, while simultaneously observing the adults’ behaviour with increasing bewilderment. He watches, for instance, as they show little hesitation before looting a vacant German farm or killing an alleged collaborator. Both the retreating German soldiers and the Soviet liberators are a source of apprehension for the boy in relation to the family assets – a mare and a cart – which he has hidden in the woods at his father’s command. Disenchantment with the world order is of course nothing new for Olin. He has already learned about greed and cruelty from his peers, by whom he is relentlessly tormented. With this film, Kachyňa established his reputation as a lyrical director, combining poetic and dreamlike images with the grim reality of the war’s final days. The impressive visual scope of the motion picture was in no small part thanks to camera operator Jaromír Šofr for whom it was a feature-film debut. Non-professional actor Zdeněk Lstibůrek excelled in the role of Olin, offering further proof of Kachyňa’s legendary ability to direct child protagonists. The film was also screened under the title Já a Julina a konec veliké války (Me and Julina and the End of the Great War).