Summary
The story of a young delinquent who ruins his life – and whom society fails, despite its best efforts to put him on a straight path. This 1973 film typifies normalisation-era efforts to present a new kind of morality and pro-regime ideology on-screen. Directed by Antonín Kachlík, the main protagonist of the piece, Jiří Hudeček (played by the lesser-known Alexej Okuněv), dreams of a career as a motor racing driver. Instead, he makes a living stealing cars. After his criminal band is caught, he ends up sentenced to hard labour at a quarry mine, but even this “good-for-the-soul” environment, filled with manual labourers, fails to rid Hudeček of his bad habits. The very appearance of this anti-hero suggest a youngster corrupted by imperialist dreams and notions of profit without work. Explosives manager Beran (Ladislav Večeřa), helps Jiří to try to find the correct way forward, and offers audiences the acceptable model of a conscientious workhorse.
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