2024-08-21 20:09:27
The new film The End of the World directed by Bohdan Sláma tells about August 1968 through children’s eyes. The heroes are a boy and his grandfather who together experience the Soviet occupation at a cottage in the Jizerské hory. Miroslav Krobot will play the main role of grandfather, Vojtěch Veverka will play the boy Tondu. The makers have just released a trailer for the film, which will open in theaters on September 19.
The film The End of the World will start showing in theaters on September 19. Photo: Luminar Film | Video: CinemArt
The End of the World tells the story of Tondo, who cannot go on a trip to Paris with his parents and older brother due to illness in the summer of 1968. He has to stay at a cottage in the Jizera Mountains with his grandfather, an amateur painter, a man of great nobility and, above all, a peculiar descendant of Russian nobles. The holiday coexistence, which the boy did not care about, changes the night to August 21 and the arrival of the occupiers.
Despite the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops, Miroslav Krobot, in the role of grandfather, tries to enrich the boy, teaching him French and how to eat well. “Blah, is that wine?” he asks Grandpa in the Tondo trailer after they have a toast, to which Grandpa dryly replies that “that’s what all the children drink in France”.
The creators promise a poetic story seen through children’s eyes, in which there is no shortage of gentle humor and dramatic situations related to the occupation. According to director Bohdan Sláma, the child hero Tonda is an emotionally complex being who can fully perceive his own and his grandfather’s mistakes.
“The story is based on the question of how the fragile thread of family relationships can withstand the crazy onslaught of time. Family relationships are the basis of our existence, we need to return to them again and again,” says Sláma.
Miroslav Krobot considers the theme of life under totalitarianism in Czech cinematography to be sufficiently elaborated. “But the role of grandfather is beyond him in an original way, including noble origin, way of thinking and deep personal experience with several political establishments,” he claims.
In the foreground on the right is Miroslav Krobot as a grandfather. | Photo: Luminar Film
According to the author of the script, Ivan Arsenyev, the news does not tell about the occupation, which primarily creates a dramatic background here.
“The end of the world is more of a fragile relationship film in which the children’s world plays a large role. Most of the time it takes place in the beautiful Jizera Mountains and, in addition to dramatic situations, it also contains humor and poetry. It is a film that tries to say something about the strength of family and the pain caused by her loss, the wisdom of life passed on and the courage to face adversity.
Other roles will feature Zuzana Mauréry, Magdaléna Borová, Daniel Fischer, Michal Isteník or Zuzana Konečná.
Sláma, a teacher at the department of directing at FAMU in Prague, is a successful director. For Wild Bees from 2001, he won first prizes at festivals in Rotterdam and San Francisco, four years younger, Štěstí won the Czech Lion for best film, direction, screenplay, cinematography, leading female performance, supporting female performance and leading male performance.
The film Bába z ledu received six Czech Lions in 2018, Slám’s previous film Landscape in the Shadows three years ago had 15 nominations for Czech Lion awards. The author’s latest title so far is this year’s Drought about intergenerational relations between two families.