1991 Czechoslovak comedy-drama film
This article is about the 1991 film. For a school for young children, see
Primary school
.
| The Elementary School
|
|---|
 Original release poster
|
| Directed by
| Jan Sv?rak
|
|---|
| Screenplay by
| Zden?k Sv?rak
|
|---|
| Story by
| Zden?k Sv?rak
|
|---|
| Produced by
| Jaromir Luka?
|
|---|
| Starring
| Vaclav Jakoubek
Jan T?iska
|
|---|
| Cinematography
| Franti?ek A. Brabec
|
|---|
| Edited by
| Alois Fisarek
|
|---|
| Music by
| Ji?i Svoboda
|
|---|
Production
company
| |
|---|
| Distributed by
| Lucernafilm - Alfa
|
|---|
Release date
|
- 1 August 1991
(
1991-08-01
)
|
|---|
Running time
| 100 minutes
|
|---|
| Country
| Czechoslovakia
|
|---|
| Language
| Czech
|
|---|
| Box office
| 13 million K?s
[1]
|
|---|
The Elementary School
(
Czech
:
Obecna ?kola
) is a 1991 Czechoslovak
comedy-drama
film directed by
Jan Sv?rak
. The screenplay comes from the pen of his father
Zden?k Sv?rak
. The film was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
in 1991
[2]
and is considered to belong among the best Czechoslovak films ever. A
prequel
,
Barefoot
, was released in 2017.
The film is set in the early
post-war
period, in a suburban elementary school in
Prague
's vicinity. A war hero is hired as a teacher, and asked to discipline an unruly class of boys. He soon earns their respect, but he is threatened with termination over his reputed sexual relationship with two highschool girls.
Plot
[
edit
]
Shortly after
World War II
, in 1945?46, in one of the suburbs of
Prague
(the film was shot in
Michle
), Eda Sou?ek attends a boys' elementary school where he belongs to a class with a complete lack of discipline. After the class drives their teacher, Maxova, to a mental breakdown during one of her classes, the schoolmaster has to implement special measures. Authoritative Igor Hnizdo, who is said to be a great war hero, is hired as their new teacher. He immediately introduces
corporal punishment
, which, as he claims, is not normally allowed, but the school has received an exception from the Ministry of Education, especially for their class. Whenever he is not satisfied with the boys' behavior, Hnizdo asks them to flex their arms and hits their palms several times with a flexible
switch
.
Despite his strict methods, the boys soon become charmed by the man. They love his battlefront stories and the fact that he is always armed and wears a uniform. Eda sees him as the very opposite of his own father, whom he considers to be too cowardly. Hnizdo makes the same positive impression on the townspeople (including Eda's mother). Nevertheless, his persona is also surrounded by many controversies. He is a notorious womanizer and is said to have a special weakness for high school girls. His war heroism is also disputed as he is unable to provide any accurate information about his military service. There is even an unconfirmed rumor that Hnizdo's role during the war was to guard a herd of goats. But the boys from his class refuse to believe it and even fight those who are spreading these rumors.
Hnizdo's reputation suffers after he is accused of having a sexual relationship with 16-year-old twins who attend a girls' school in the same area. He is forced to leave because this is not the first time he has been involved in a similar scandal. The formerly unmanageable boys begin to defend Hnizdo and call for his return. The accusation is finally withdrawn, and Hnizdo is reinstalled as their teacher. He states that the way they dealt with the accusation is proof that their relationship is now based on mutual trust and physical punishments are no longer required, and he breaks his switch in half.
Cast
[
edit
]
Production
[
edit
]
The original story was written by
Zden?k Sv?rak
. He used his own experiences both as a pupil of a similar school and as a former teacher. This is the first of the films created by the successful father screenwriter - son director duo. The others include
Akumulator I.
(1993),
Kolja
(1996),
Tmavomodry sv?t
(2000) and
Vratne lahve
(2007). It was also the first non-documentary film by
Jan Sv?rak
. Obecna ?kola is also notable because it includes one of the last roles for two prominent Czech actors
Rudolf Hru?insky
(his last big screen film) and
Petr ?epek
(appeared in two more films before his death). The film was also the first appearance of
Jan T?iska
in a Czech film since his emigration to the
United States
in 1977.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]