Shadows of a Hot Summer

It’s been two years since the Second World War ended, but the Czechoslovak border is still not safe, as farmer Ondřej Baran (Juraj Kukura), who farms a remote homestead with his wife Tereza (Marta Vančurová) and two children, will soon find out. A band of partisans want to shoot their way through their land to get to Austria, and they choose Baran’s farmhouse as a hideout. The family and the local doctor are taken hostage by five men with murderous intent, and the stoic protagonist must come up with a way of protecting his loved ones. This ballad-like take from the Beskid Mountains was directed by František Vláčil, based on an idea and script by Jiří Křižan, who returned to the “Eastern”, or “Wallachian Western” genre in the film JE TŘEBA ZABÍT SEKALA (SEKAL HAS TO DIE). Zdeněk Liška’s music amplifies the slowly tightening plot loops and suffocating atmosphere. Amongst other awards, the film won the Crystal Globe at the 21st IFF in Karlovy Vary in 1978.