Fires and Burnt Out Places

Litvínov-born writer Jiří Švejda made his film debut with the script for Křehké vztahy (Delicate Relationships, 1979), directed by Juraj Herz and inspired by a book by Václav Dušek. A year later Švejda adapted his own novel, this time for director Antonín Kachlík. Požáry a spáleniště (Fires and Burnt Out Places, 1980) tells the story of two friends from university, whose moral fibre is tested when they are both employed at a brickyard. The plot follows a somewhat thorny path before arriving at the “correct” outcome. Otakar Maška, a member of the state enterprise’s management, employs his old friend Lumír Brabec. Thanks to an all-embracing interest in construction Lumír quickly works his way up from storekeeper to technical engineer. It comes as a nasty surprise to the conscientious workhorse to learn that Otakar, whose sister Lumír has recently married, has all the while been stealing socialist property… The film is a sterling example of a Barrandov film studios production fulfilling the political demands of the time. The lead roles were played by Zdeněk Maryška (Lumír) and Josef Hajdučík (Otakar).