Vladimír Čech may have been an expert crafter of crime stories, but it is this socially critical 1965 piece that serves as perhaps his most significant filmic accomplishment. Despite not attaining the provocative nature of the book on which it is based – 1955’s Páteř (Backbone) by Ladislav Bublík – it nonetheless testifies to the loosening political climate of mid-1960s Czechoslovakia. The story is told in flashback by Karel (Jaroslav Vízner), who recalls the events of the previous months at the modest burial of his fellow builder colleague Bedřich (František Peterka). In 1953, on an official day of mourning for the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, viewers are exposed to the story of one simple man, liquidated by the communist regime. Bedřich has been subject to ongoing political investigations and, unwilling to admit to trumped-up charges of (Nazi-era) collaboration, he commits suicide. The film benefits from convincing performances, including a terrific turn from Oldřich Nový as former barber Carbol.
In a small cemetery, the burial of occasional team-worker Bedřich Nevěřil is held, attended by several of his former colleagues. Pathetic words accompanying the funeral ceremony for the deceased Josif Vissarionovich Stalin come to the cemetery from distant loudspeakers. Karel Kratochvíl, one of the participants of the modest funeral, recalls in his mind the events of the preceding months. Karel used to work as bricklayer, but was class-conscious and the factory director thus appointed him the head of the Department of the Workers' Initiative. In the period of political trials, however, the director was arrested and Kratochvíl paid for it "only" by forced removal to the construction site of the Klement Gottwald New Smelting Works in Kunčice. He was employed in the gang of occasional team-workers, all people who had made a "slip-up." Among them, he found the distinctive and straightforward Bedřich the most likeable. Clerk Růžena Kafková first seemed pleasant to Karel, too, but only until he found her to be an uncompromising and fanatic communist comrade waiting for any detail that might bear witness to treasonous thinking. She hated Bedřich and it thus pleased her when a Doctor Nebeda appeared and, at the Party meeting, claimed that teacher Nevěřil collaborated with the Germans during the occupation. Bedřich tried to defend himself, but in vain. The next day he died, falling into the elevator shaft. Everyone sensed that it was suicide. That very day, it was proved that, during the occupation, he was in fact a brave resistant worker and should have been awarded. However, he was unjustly screened instead and eventually chased down to death.
brigádník Karel Kratochvíl
úřednice Růžena Kafková
brigádník Bedřich Nevěřil
dělník Žerávek
Řešátko, člen ZV KSČ
dělník Polda
dělník Fero Beno
Voice by Július Pántik
mistr Šafář, předseda ZV KSČ
brigádník Carbol, bývalý zubař
dělník Lexa Pírko
Švéda, redaktor závodního časopisu
autojeřábník dr. Nebeda
mistr Kežmar
skladnice Margit
bulharský dělník Asen
Sedlář, tajemník závodní organizace KSČ
Anka, Karlova žena
náborář Kajman
stavbyvedoucí
Jirka, předseda ZO ČSM
Kokeš, člen ZV KSČ
Hanyka, člen ZV KSČ a LM
ředitel
Maňa, Ferova žena
závodní stráž
brigádník
strážný
plešatý brigádník
brigádník
hostinská
člen ČSM
brigádník v hospodě
svačinářka Máňa
Zoja, členka ČSM
Honza
Jarča
Benův švagr
prostitutka
prostitutka
blondýna
dělnice
strážný
šatnářka
žena
opilec
opilec
osamělá žena v restauraci
mládenec
mládenec
Ladislav Bublík (Páteř – novela)
Vladimír Zábranský
J. Hlinovský, Josef Pavlík, Karel Průcha
Pavel Jelínek, Bohumír Brunclík (zvukové efekty)
Otakar Jiříček, Jan Šuster
Jana Linhartová (klapka), Jaroslav Trousil (fotograf)
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)
Song Composer Isaak Dunajevskij
Writer of Lyrics Vasilij Lebeděv-Kumač
Singer sbor
Singer sbor
Singer sbor
Singer Jaroslav Vojta
Singer sbor
Song Composer anonym /15. století/
Writer of Lyrics Jan Franus
Singer sbor
Song Composer Jaromír Vejvoda
Song Composer Jan Seidel
Writer of Lyrics Josef Hora
Singer sbor
Úplně vyřízený chlap
Úplně vyřízený chlap
Lost Years
Páteř
film
featuretheatrical distribution
drama, social
Czechoslovakia
1965
1964
literary Screenplay approved 18 December 1963
technical Screenplay approved 22 April 1964
start of filming 3 June 1964
end of filming 27 November 1964
projection approval 12 February 1965
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1973
premiere 21 May 1965 /unsuitable for youths/ (celostátní)
premiere 4 June 1965 /unsuitable for youths/ (kino Blaník /2 týdny/, Praha)
Tvůrčí skupina Šebor – Bor, Vladimír Bor (vedoucí dramaturg tvůrčí skupiny), Jiří Šebor (vedoucí výroby tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
95 min
2 692 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,66, 1:2,35
black & white
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech