A dramatic story about two friends - fisherman Richardus and municipal executioner Emil Targo takes place at the river Danube, in places that used to be targets of Ottoman raids. But their attraction to the same woman and Emil’s betrayal change their indissoluble friendship to an equally strong hatred. And as it usually goes - after twenty years by a trick of fate Richardus’ daughter Agajka becomes the wife ofthe sun of his sworn enemy.
Acting
Vlado Müller's executioner: bureaucrat of death, poet of regret.
Cinematography
Danube as character: beautiful, indifferent, drowning everyone's sins.
Direction
Bielik's restraint makes the violence hit harder when it lands.
Director
Paľo Bielik
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bielik adapted this from Timrava's novel, deliberately contrasting romantic Danube landscapes with the moral rot of institutional violence.
Made during Czechoslovak New Wave's peak, this was Bielik's return to 'national' themes after socialist realist pressure—note how the Ottoman threat is background, the real enemy is other Slovaks.
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