High Blue Wall

The first Czech film to be made with 70mm film technology was created to mark the 30th anniversary of the independent Czechoslovak air force. Directed by Vladimír Čech in 1973, the film is inspired by the novel Osm a půl sestřelu (Eight-and-a-half Shootdowns) by author Vladimír Podzimek. The narrative is played out in 1951, and sees air force commander Jelínek (Jiří Bednář) nostalgically looking back to the formative days of Czech military aviation. Years ago, when first starting out, Jelínek even found himself at odds with his strict commander Dvořák (Martin Růžek). But both soldiers are ultimately joined together by the hope that new Soviet military aircraft will help secure the country’s borders against Western aggression. The film is an unabashed early “normalisation” attempt at rehabilitating the Stalinist era. The Czechoslovak People's Army (ČLA) and Svazarm (the Union for Cooperation with the Army) assisted with the production. Vysoká modrá zeď (The High Blue Wall) benefits from realistically staged aircraft battle sequences.