In a South Moravian wine-growing village in the early 1970s lives an old man who cannot accept the attitude of the younger generation towards nature and agriculture. Director Hynek Bočan made a number of films based on Jan Kostrhun's drafts, mostly set in the South Moravian environment (including The Face Behind the Glass), but the portraits were very flat. Relationships between people were often depicted in predictable schemes. The hero this time is an old villager who is struggling to cope with the changes in his attitude to nature and to agricultural work in general. He sees his only hope in his grandson, to whom he tries to pass on his life experience.
Acting
Josef Kemr's weathered face does the heavy lifting.
Cinematography
South Moravian vineyards shot like fading memories.
Director
Hynek Bočan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film captures the real tension of Czechoslovakia's forced agricultural collectivization, where traditional wine-growing families lost their land to state-run cooperatives.
Director Hynek Bočan was known for literary adaptations but critics consistently found his characters 'flat' — ironically appropriate for a film about hollowed-out rural life.
XC
