White Darkness

Summary

František Čáp made this war movie in order to celebrate 4th anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. The filmmakers also created one episode based on the true events of this Uprising, where they focus on the connection of Czech, Slovak and Soviet partisans or soldiers and highlight the role of Soviet Army’s members, only due to the ideology at the time. Political pathos is balanced with professional and impressive editing of a good quality. However, it is obvious that the making of the film was done under difficult circumstances (realized in studios in Prague and Bratislava). – During the retreat into the mountains, the partisan brigade must leave several wounded in the blizzard in small wooden hut, hidden under the snow in an inaccessible place. They are left with a doctor, a nurse named Katka, two villagers from a nearby village who joined the partisans, and a girl named Rozka, who was the only one of her family to save herself from the Germans. The enemy soldiers are gradually withdrawing around the hut... – The name Bílá tma (White Darkness) represents a big snowstorm. – The film was shown at the III International Film Festival in Mariánské Lázně in 1948, where it won the itinerant National Award for the best Czechoslovak film. At the same time, it was screened at the First Workers' Film Festival in Zlín, but was condemned by the workers' jury, who accused the film of pathos in its dialogue, lack of optimism and naturalism. František Čáp was disrespectful of the jury's claims, which cost him his future career in the Czechoslovak cinema. For this reason he later emigrated and laid the foundations of Slovenian cinema. – The film was released in February 2018 as part of the National Film Archive's Filmové osmičky project, along with other titles associated with the anniversaries of events of modern Czechoslovak/Czech history in the years ending with the number 8.

Synopsis