The miner Dařbuján has a lot of children that he cannot support and another one has just been born. He needs to find a godfather and three are offered: God, the Devil and Death. Dařbuján chooses Death because he is the only one who is fair, he treats the poor and the rich equally. When Dařbuján is considering what to do to provide for his family, Death advises him to get a doctorate and immediately offers him help in his new trade. If Death stands at the feet of a sick person, Dařbuján will heal him within three days. However, if he stands at the head, the sick person is finished and Dařbuján must not interfere in his trade...
Production
Czech puppetry techniques in live-action fantasy.
Writing
Darkly comic bargain with Death himself.
Director
Ludvík Ráža
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Božena Němcová's folk tale, reflecting 19th-century Czech anxieties about poverty and social mobility. The film adapts national literary heritage through socialist-era cinema.
Death's fairness doctrine directly critiques class systems—rich and poor alike must die—making this a subtly subversive film under communist censorship.
XC
