Directed by:
František VláčilScreenplay:
Jiří KřižanCinematography:
Ivan ŠlapetaComposer:
Zdeněk LiškaCast:
Juraj Kukura, Marta Vančurová, Gustáv Valach, Gustav Opočenský, Karel Chromík, Jiří Bartoška, Zdeněk Kutil, Augustín Kubán, Ilja Prachař, Robert Lischke (more)Plots(1)
Paying tribute to sober heroism, this drama is formally the most concise of Vláčil’s three films set in the troubled period just after the Second World War. The story unfolds in a remote part of the Beskydy mountains, where a shepherd and his young family are held hostage by five armed Ukrainian nationalist paramilitaries, who force their way into their home, seeking temporary shelter. In the spirit of the classical drama, the director brings into play the unities of action, time and place, creating a masterful sense of increasing tension through his characteristic methods: dynamic lensing, unusual and expressive camerawork, knife-edge scenes half shrouded in darkness, muted delivery from the cast, the use of powerful musical motifs and also prolonged periods of silence. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
(more)Cast
Oldřich Mach
Best movies:
Shadows of a Hot Summer (1977)
Grandhotel (2006)
Dagmar Hachová
Best movies:
Shadows of a Hot Summer (1977)
Náš dědek Josef (1976)
Brácha za všechny peníze (1978)
![Jana Postlerová](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/078/830/78830928_67476a.jpg)
Jana Postlerová
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Best movies:
Shadows of a Hot Summer (1977)
Kamenný řád (1975) (series)
Spring of Life (2000)
Peter Kršák
Best movies:
Shadows of a Hot Summer (1977)
Journey Southwest (1989)
Evo, vdej se! (1983)
![Václav Babka](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/272/272603_a36839.jpg)
Václav Babka
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Invention for Destruction (1958)
All My Compatriots (1968)
The Stolen Airship (1966)
![Marcela Martínková](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/268/268411_42ded7.jpg)
Marcela Martínková
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Shadows of a Hot Summer (1977)
Voyage to the End of the Universe (1963)
Jak svět přichází o básníky (1982)
![Eliška Balzerová](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/748/163748092_3b9ced.jpg)
Eliška Balzerová
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Můj báječný rozvod (2008) (theatrical recording)
Run, Waiter, Run! (1980)
Blboun (2001) (theatrical recording)
![Oldřich Velen](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/268/268674_220c98.jpg)
Oldřich Velen
Czechoslovakia
Best movies:
Marecek, Pass Me the Pen! (1976)
All My Compatriots (1968)
Joachim, Put It in the Machine (1974)
![Vladimír Jedenáctík](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/275/275712_f2ca6f.jpg)
Vladimír Jedenáctík
Austria-Hungary
Best movies:
Once Upon a Time, There Was a King... (1954)
The Petroleum Lamps (1971)
Shadows of a Hot Summer (1977)