Summary
Markéta Zinnerová’s books and screenplays were primarily focused on the world of children and young people. Among her screenwriting endeavours was an adaptation of her book Indiáni z Větrova (Větrov Red Indians), which was published in 1979. That year also saw the release of the film, helmed by Július Matula. Then 36, the director was at that time known for nothing more than his noteworthy 1977 debut Řeknem si to příští léto (Let’s Talk about It Next Summer). Though Matula subsequently made other children’s movies, he had never set out to focus on the genre and made them largely because of societal demand. It was this that led him to shoot Bloudění orientačního běžce (The Lost Orienteer), evoking the subject of Spartakiad meetings, in 1986. Větrov Red Indians, meanwhile, was linked to the International Year of the Child (1979) and the 30th anniversary of the foundation of the Socialist Youth Union’s Pioneer organisation. On the surface the picture explores the rivalry between two gangs of boys from the village of Větrov – the residents of children’s home, known as Indians, and a group of locals called Shimmies. However, reality intrudes into the boys’ everyday tussles: Větrov is by the border and the boys’ world includes border guards and their loyal canine companions, trained to pursue trespassers on socialist state borders. The boys keep a careful eye out for any suspicious looking outsiders. One such is Mr. Podešva (Josef Somr), though it transpires he has come to the village over an adoption. In the end a truce between the two gangs is achieved by the leader of the Pioneer group, who tasks the boys with looking after the retired border patrol dog Rank. The fatherly commander of the border guards, portrayed by the dependable Ilja Prachař, is also sympathetic to the boys’ troubles. Větrov Red Indians also differs from the apolitical films for young people of Věra Plívová-Šimková in the fact that Matula for the most part cast children with previous acting experience in the picture.
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