Summary
Screenwriter Jaroslav Dietl’s forays into the world of doctors were not merely limited to the popular TV series Nemocnice na kraji města (Hospital on the Edge of Town, 1977). In 1971, he worked on a project combining stylised scenes and real documentary footage. The latter content included heart surgery filmed in the Hradec Králové teaching hospital. Serving as the viewers’ guide in the story is hospital attendant Cajthaml (Josef Hlinomaz), who comments upon the events taking place in one hospital department over 24 hours with a good deal of humour and wonder. A team of surgeons, headed by chief physician Hrůza (Martin Růžek), spend the day attending to a Mr Horáček. The complex operation is not disrupted despite the multitude of day-to-day problems encountered by the individual members of the operating team. Pět mužů a jedno srdce (Five Men and One Heart) serves as the sole feature-film directorial effort from Jan Matějovský, whose main spheres were television and theatre.
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