Young Wine

Following Bouřlivé víno (Wine Working, 1976) and Zralé víno (Mature Wine, 1981), inspired by Jan Kozák’s novel Svatý Michal (Saint Michael, 1971), director Václav Vorlíček and screenwriter Miloš Macourek return once again to the South Moravian village of Pálavice. The wiping out of the opposition in 1968 and the successful building of the farming cooperative during the “normalisation” period are both bound to the personality of good-natured cooperative chairman Michal Janák. He is now to be replaced at the helm by young bureaucrat Petrus. This time around, the film’s central misunderstanding is centred on a new and expensive computer, ostentatiously boycotted by the conservative farmers. However, Petrus also faces more serious issues related to the pilfering of socialist property. The film, completing Václav Vorlíček’s politically involved “Wine Trilogy”, enjoyed high-quality casting. At the forefront were Josef Abrhám, Vladimír Menšík and Jiří Sovák.