Obchod na korze
Cinematography:
Vladimír NovotnýComposer:
Zdeněk LiškaCast:
Ida Kamińska, Jozef Kroner, František Zvarík, Hana Slivková, Martin Hollý st., Elena Zvaríková-Pappová, Martin Gregor, Adam Matejka, Mikuláš Ladižinský (more)Plots(1)
‘Tóno’ Brtko, a poor carpenter, is appointed by his despised Nazi brother-in-law to be 'Aryan controller' of an old Jewish widow’s sewing shop in a Nazi-occupied Slovakia in 1942. The widow, Rozalia (Yiddish theatre legend Ida Kamińska, nominated here for a Best Actress Oscar® for her performance) is near deaf, isolated and partially sighted, barely even aware of the war or able to comprehend the danger in which she lives. Believing Tóno is simply her new assistant, the two develop a friendship that sees him maintaining that fiction as he attempts to protect her from the encroaching Nazi horror. The Shop on the High Street is a complex tale of common lives disturbed and destroyed by war. Wonderfully written and performed, and with an extraordinary Zdenek Liška score, the film becomes a devastating examination of how minor compromises can finally lead to complicity in the horrors of tyranny. Winner of the Oscar® for Best Foreign Language Feature in 1965, Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos’ The Shop on the High Street (aka The Shop on Main Street) is one of the cornerstones of World Cinema, and perhaps the most internationally renowned film in all Czechoslovak cinema. (Second Run)
(more)Reviews (10)
A Czechoslovak cinematic gem that deservedly won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. This superbly constructed story imbued with an atmosphere of fear and emotionally built to the max, is a chillingly accurate portrayal of the time period it is about. The film is adorned with literally fascinating performances by Jozef Kroner and Ida Kamińska. I dare say they both presented themselves here in the best roles of their lives. The last half hour blew my mind. In fact, I can't remember if I've ever had a similarly strong emotional experience with any other film.
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I've been struggling with accepting The Shop on Main Street for years and it's still like being at sea, once down, once up. The work of the Kadár/Klos duo will always be problematic because their joint ascension in the 1950s is one perversion after another. The Shop on Main Street has a theme comparable to the appeal of Zinnemann's The Search, which is nice, but the tragedy encapsulated in the character of Ida Kaminská is too complicated to be so easily eclipsed by Kroner's traditional citizen in moral distress. Unfortunately, today it is also difficult to understand the dialogues that sovereignly combine Slovak, German, and Yiddish. There could not be a more atypical film for Czechoslovak cinema, and yet it is the one that represented 20 years of State Film in its time and is now honored with the Academy Award as eternal and divine.
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A film so brilliant and so masterfully orchestrated and built up in the second half that it brings me to tears. One of the distinctive cornerstones of the mosaic called "The Golden Era of Czechoslovak cinema of the 1960s", and clear proof (one of many) that it was at that time when the greatest works of cinema in this country were made. The performances of Kroner and Kaminska are superb, the film was a well-deserved worldwide success at the time of its release (as evidenced by the Oscar and the unique Oscar nomination for Kaminska, which was a year too late in the history of this award); it's a pity that it’s almost unknown to today's young generation.
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I can’t believe that I missed this gem for so long. There have been many films with similar themes in the post-war wave of cinema, but patriotically I have to shout to the world that none can match the Czech Higher Principle and the Slovak The Shop on Main Street. An incredibly climactic and powerful story that the heroic performances of Kaminska and Kroner in particular make it gripping from the first minute to the last depressing shot. The Slovaks can be rightly proud, this film should have won more than one Oscar. 100%
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If there is a reason for Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos to roast in hell for their film endeavors from the 1950s (and there are a few reasons), then this film more than redeems their transgressions. An excellent, chilling drama from the wartime period that shows how dictatorship and dark times can distort human characters. By the way, when we compare Hřebejk's acclaimed film Divided We Fall with The Shop on Main Street, we understand the difference between a very good film and an excellent one, and the difference between playing it safe and filmmaking bravery. Overall impression: 100%. One of the best films ever produced by the Czechoslovak film school.
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