Summary
The third part of the “Poets pentalogy” was created by director Dušan Klein and screenwriter Ladislav Pecháček in 1987. Following Jak svět přichází o básníky (How the World Loses Poets) (1982) and Jak básníci přicházejí o iluze (How Poets Lose Their Illusions) (1984), popular hero Šimon Šafránek (Pavel Kříž), an idealistic dreamer, returned to the big screen. After successfully completing his studies, Šimon takes a job as a doctor at the internal department of the district hospital in his native Hradiště. However, due to his aversion to privileged patients he gets into a conflict with the senior doctor and ends up as a general practitioner in the remote Bezdíkov. Alongside problems with administration and a range of singular patients, the young man meets a new love, a music teacher to whom he gives the nickname Little Whistle (Eva Vejmělková)… The hero’s friend Kendy has also graduated; after studying to be a director at FAMU he becomes an assistant TV director. Kendy and a crew come to make a series in his and Šimon’s hometown. Vendulka “The Comforter” is a clerk at the Ministry of Health. A third friend whom he knew from Prague student dorms in the previous episode – the African Mireček – has embarked on a lucrative career and visits Czechoslovakia as part of an international delegation. The group enjoy a few glasses at the Moravian wine cellar of their pal Venoš… Šimon must compete for Little Whistle’s affections with her dull fiancé Hájek (Rostislav Kuba). As previously, his poetic approach clashes with the pragmatic attitude of his rival. Characters from previous parts are supplemented with new ones in the form of Jana Hlaváčová (as Tonička, an optimistic nurse in Bezdíkov) and Rudolf Hrušínský (Little Whistle’s bohemian father). Following Pavel Kříž’s emigration to Canada it appeared that the Poets series was at an end. In 1993, however, Dušan Klein made another follow-up entitled Konec básníků v Čechách (The End of Poets in Bohemia), in which the virtuous hero encounters the new post-1989 situation as he looks for work. He was also able therefore to proceed to the final part of the pentalogy, Jak básníci neztrácejí naději (Poets Never Lose Hope) (2003).
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