A Hole in the Head

A comedy about three flirtatious woodcutters realistically capturing Slovak village life and criticizing insincerity, hypocrisy and male pride.

Michal and Juraj, two students of a theological seminary in totalitarian Czechoslovakia, must decide if they'll choose the easier way of collaboration, or if they'll subject themselves to the surveillance of the secret police.

A battle over a family inheritance breaks out among the main characters of the comedy. Their ideas about what to do with it vary. A quirky widow full of life sees it one way, while her repeatedly divorced daughter, unemployed son, and his ex-wife see it another.

Miroslav Válek was a Slovak poet whose sensitive and intimate work clashed with his political engagement in the communist party. How to approach this discrepancy, how to cope with it? Can one read poems while disregarding their author?