Po Strništi Bos

Prague in the forties: as a result of his refusal to give the Hitler salute a father loses both his job and company flat. Thus the family has no option but to move in with their relatives in the countryside. Though initially unsettling for young Eda, he soon makes new friends. These take him to their secret hideouts, teach him how to play cards and run barefoot over stubble fields. The harmony does not last though, as Eda learns that his father has a brother, an outsider whom everybody refers to as Wolf. Though forbidden to do so, Eda meets him on the sly in order to get to know this mysterious figure better.

Director Jan Svěrák has based his latest work on the life of his father Zdeněk, who plays a cautiously patriotic village teacher in the film. Superbly cast is the role of young Eda, a youngster with a tendency to err on the side of caution whose hazardous adventures are fortunately reserved to his daydreams. CF