Emil Kosír

Ten short unrelated stories that move chronologically through Slovakia's twentieth-century history as seen from the perspective of life in small towns and villages.

The story of a peasant whose harshness and bluntness only provoke disputes and anger, and his honesty and sense of truth and honor in conjunction with the previous qualities only exacerbate these disputes. The Slovak village with its collective farming, confronted with the habits of a square nature, raised by private farming, creates the main plot and conflict. In parallel, there is a lyrical motif of the young generation, whose love relationships do not care about the old ridiculous anger of the old generation.

A story about the love of two young people who were not divided by borders or the cruelty of time.

People can be addicted to things, like high-calorie food. But the struggle against overweight and overeating is often futile, so the unfortunates have no choice but to lose weight under the guidance of experts - and they don't mind that the conditions in the sanatorium in question are quite oppressive and humiliating. Although, with a lot of good will, one could detect some metaphorical elements, the bitter comedy, reveling in naive stylisation, ultimately wants to be nothing more than an entertaining piece of work.

War takes its cruel toll, which everyone must pay. It hits a small Slovak village especially hard, where the struggle for a bare life becomes a test of human character. For two impoverished friends, Jakub and Maja, struggling through poverty is more than difficult. Jakub delivers sour milk from somewhere on his cart to the entire village and lives in a dilapidated house with his sister Tereza, whose caregiver and guide through life is the experienced woman Mara, who provides herself with money from seduced soldiers. Maja, on the other hand, is a foundling and homeless man who does whatever he can to survive the next day. The only consolation for the two inseparable friends are the circulating tales of a kind of promised land, where there is no poverty or hunger, and where they could both go. Only this vision, this idea alone keeps the two of them and the rest of the village on their feet, and gives them hope for a better tomorrow.