Jan Cmíral

The trenches of World War I provide for a captivating backdrop to the drama of Corporal Hoferik. In his devotion to the Habsburg Monarchy, he fanatically carries out his military orders, but he ultimately suffers the Empire's disfavor.

The film is a metaphor for the Cold War. It depicts two neighbouring nations: peace loving Fortuna and the not so peaceful land of the Steel City.

Even under socialism, which proclaimed the equality of all people, there were status differences. A young bricklayer, who has fallen in love with a college girl from a "better" family, feels this first-hand - the girl's petty bourgeois parents are fundamentally opposed to an unequal relationship from their point of view. In protest, the young lovers decide to live in a tent for the time being and go straight to the park. The surprisingly clueless director Ladislav Rychman has tried to merge disco songs with a tame satire on modern-day rich people.

After many decades in Germany, Marie Hahn will come to Prague to meet her relatives and friends. She learns unflattering information about her husband's behaviour during the German occupation, she suffers health problems, but even her daughter is not interested in helping her mother...

In the film, the creative forces of personalities from three spheres of art collide. The subtitle "The Game of Love and Hate" refers to the motivation of an old Czech medieval satire, the theme belongs to Antonín Přidal, an expert on this subject. His collaboration with Juraj Herz created a collage of past and present, an updated, sharp satire and a parable about the clash of human qualities that could not but end up in the vault. The music of the Prague Selection - Michael Kocáb and Michal Pavlíček - also contributed to the film's offensive provocativeness - the film was one of the reasons for their complete move to the underground. The dancing chorus of medieval citizens resembles more of a jumble of long-haired maniacs, the edge of a contemporary dump intrudes into the space of a medieval marketplace, and the characters oscillate between the past and the present, whether in their appearance, symbolism or behaviour.

From time to time, we have produced an admirable film about the virtues of the domestic army, which raised the right men in ideal conditions - in this case, we meet the enthusiastic drill sergeants in green, who selflessly rehearse a demanding Spartakiad composition... So, two aspects important to the regime have merged into one. But even this did not change the incredulous, spasmodically optimistic yawn that perhaps even those who had set all this up could not believe. The film uses documentary footage of the soldiers' Spartakiada performance in 1980.

The hero of the opening story, the Postman Puppet (directed by Zdeněk Troška), works as a postman in the mountains. When his wife is taken to the maternity ward, he goes on his usual hike through the solitudes. Little Libor goes after the father of two girls (Petr Pospíchal), who longs for a son. Meanwhile, the weather on the ridges worsens sharply. An experienced mountaineer and his little friend spend the night in a makeshift shelter... The second episode of Hádanka (directed by Jan Ekl) has a criminal plot. A new father (Vlastimil Hašek) gets drunk with friends in a wine bar and the next day becomes a suspect in a murder. He doesn't remember the critical moments, but his testimony leads to the capture of the real perpetrator... The main character of the final short story True Love (directed by Vladimír Drha) is a frat boy (Pavel Zedníček) who spends whole days in pubs. He gets a harsh lesson from his wife, who refuses to let him see the baby...

A story of two boys who during the summer at a recreation area become best friends despite being enemies at first.