Sokolovo

The second entry in an ambitious historical war trilogy from director Otakar Vávra – the first is the two-part Dny zrady (The Days of Betrayal, 1973), while the third is Osvobození Prahy (The Liberation of Prague, 1976). Made in 1974 as a co-production with Soviet Mosfilm, this feature tells the story of the formation of the First Czechoslovak battalion under the command of Ludvík Svoboda and its contribution to the fight on the eastern front. Screenwriters Miroslav Fábera, Nikolaj Figurovskij and Otakar Vávra set the action within a wider historical context (the killing of Nazi leader Heydrich, quarrels between exiles in London and the communists in Moscow, and so forth). Filmed in authentic locations in Ukraine, this epic utilises large numbers of extras and a star-studded cast of Czechoslovak and Soviet actors (Ladislav Chudík, Vladimír Samoylov and Yuriy Solomin to name but a few). In 1981, after the actor portraying the heroic Captain Jaroš, namely Martin Štěpánek, emigrated, the film was withdrawn from cinemas.