Detour

Josef Mach’s first film as a solo director, Nikdo nic neví (Nobody Knows Anything, 1947), was a comedy about wartime tram drivers. Nearly 20 years on, he revisited transportation as an underlying theme of sorts, in the satire Objížďka (The Detour, 1968). Thanks to ongoing repair work on a nearby motorway, traffic is diverted through the idyllic village of Květoliby pod Lípou, disturbing the quiet its residents are used to – and threatening a cherished century-old linden tree. But not everyone objects to the detour: “Tourism traffic” is a boon for the village publican and for local women – they experience a dramatic rise in their chances of meeting men and start to dress to impress. This forgotten film has a stellar cast, with Jiří Sovák as the village mayor, Jana Hlaváčová as a tourist agency head and Květa Fialová as a social worker.