Directed by:
Petr KotekCinematography:
Miro GáborComposer:
Petr MalásekCast:
Ondřej Hošt, Martin Voldřich, David Diviš, Martin Vlasák, Jaroslav Richter, Matěj Hádek, Petr Čepek (narrator), Karel Engel, Karel Zima, Jaromír Křížek (more)Plots(1)
This screen adaptation of the most popular Czech boys' novel and comic book narrates incidents involving two gangs of rival boys living in Prague at the end of the thirties. The Swift Arrows and the Vonts compete for who will be first to solve the secret of the Caged Hedgehog puzzle: it contains the plan of a flying bicycle. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
Shout at me, slash me, or torture me, but this can't really compete with Bočan's series. The adaptation of the classic adventure story about a non-profit boys' organization influencing presidential elections and its role in the destruction of the sacred relic of the Vonts' Mordor does captivate with its organic music and dark setting shot through Miro Gábor's lens. However, the amateurish plantation workers in the lead roles were as dangerous to the film as drinking from stone fruits! Perhaps that's why I had a persistent feeling of anachronism throughout, at times completely like an apple worm.
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I am completely behind Petr Kotek's interpretation and enjoy Foglar's book in this darker version. There were five of them - Mirek Dušín, Jarka Metelka, Jindra Hojer, Červenáček and Rychlonožka - and as much as I loved them in the comics, I experience their longing for a hedgehog in a cage very happily again and again. Indeed, it is much more realistic than with the accompaniment of Sloup, Tříska, Vyskočil, and Krampol from the series version.
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