Concert

Director Jan Schmidt, one of the prominent representatives of the 1960s Czechoslovak New Wave, above all continued his successful career in the 1970s with a markedly popular trilogy inspired by Eduard Štorch novels set in the prehistoric period. However, this 1980 criminal drama from Schmidt is a story of two escaped prisoners who seek to hide from the pursuit of justice among a rock concert audience. On their way to the border with Germany which they intend to cross illegally, the convicts do not even stop short of murder. It is this film's attempt at describing the early days of Czech rock music that proves most interesting rather than the core crime narrative. The dubiousness of using a rock concert as an environment that would naturally attract criminals is somewhat balanced out by Schmidt’s efforts at maintaining the authenticity of that said environment. This is primarily assisted by professional singer Petra Janů taking a role. The budding rock star achieved nationwide popularity with her album Exploduj! (Explode!), recorded with Pilsen-based band Bumerang and released the same year as this film.