War as seen through a child’s eyes is a perspective that was often applied successfully in Czechoslovak cinematography. Director and screenwriter Antonín Máša took this path when in 1977 he filmed a drama based on his own ideas. Proč nevěřit na zázraky (Why Not Believe in Miracles?) takes place at the end of the Second World War in Southern Bohemia. The protagonist of the tale is 12-year old village boy Milda (Igor Nachtigal), who still kind of believes that his white goat Brůna will one day change into a horse. And he clings to this naïve wish throughout dramatic encounters with the SS and Russian cavalry officers…. During the years of “normalisation”, the films of the politically “unreliable” Máša – who was fired from Prague’s Barrandov film studios in 1971 – were realised only sporadically and under strict supervision. The original version of this film, which was heavily censored, never appeared in the cinemas. The biggest demanded change related to the ending in which the small hero was shot.
It is the spring of 1945 and the end of the war is approaching. The twelve-year-old Milda Mráz, the son of a poor cobbler Mráz from Nepřejov, still believes a little in miracles. That is why he drags everywhere his white she-goat Brůna which may one day change into a long-desired white horse. Even the promise of the miserly neighbour Petrus that after the war he will arrange a banquet for all the people stands for the evidence of the existence of miracles. Pavel Mácha, who escaped some time ago from forced labour in Nazi Germany, ends hiding and, what is more, his love Vlasta is with child. The villagers, encouraged by news of Prague uprising, are building the triumphal arch to welcome the Red Army. But Pavel is brought home dead in a hay-wagon, after he and other youths wanted to capture arms. The number of the soldiers of the Nazi SS army in a countryside is increasing. They loot the houses desiring to gain civilian clothing. Heading the military column there comes to the village the one-handed Major of the Nazi SS army and takes the villagers hostage. He wants to know who had fired at the soldiers. Eventually Milda does not succeed in protecting Brůna. He is crying and while flying from the German soldiers he meets the Russian cavalry. They make him a present of a white horse. The proud boy is riding to the village. Thus he prevents the villagers from the execution because the German soldiers suppose the Russians are coming and in terror they take to flight. Between the settlement Slivice and the village Milín the Second World War in Europe ended only 12th May 1945.
There is a longer copy in which the story ends tragically – Milda is shot dead by a major SS without anybody noticing his crime. This copy is stored in the NFA. For the distribution the film has been shortened by the director.
Milda Mráz
švec Josef Mráz, Mildův otec
Mrázova žena, Mildova matka
dědeček Mráz
Anča, dcera Mrázových
Voice by Aťka Janoušková
Pepa, nejmladší syn Mrázových
Láďa, nejstarší syn Mrázových
sedlák Petrus
major SS
Pavel Mácha
Pavlova matka
starosta Drtikol
Mladič
lakýrník Eman
Hodys
řídící učitel
Véna, syn řídícího
Voice by Jana Šulcová
Vlasta, Pavlova dívka
Voice by Jan Hrušínský
Suchý, Pavlův kamarád
Kajda, Pavlův kamarád
majitelka kozla
hospodář
německý důstojník
Hans, německý důstojník
německý voják
německý voják
německý voják
německý voják
Voice by Jindřich Narenta
německý voják
německý voják
německý voják
děvečka u Petruse
děvečka u Petruse
kamarádka Vlasty
Lukšan, Pavlův kamarád
vesničan
vesničan
stařík na trakaři
kočí
listonoš
kluk
vesničan
vesničan
vesničanka
vesničanka
Eva Slívová
Richard Valenta (fotograf), Jihočeský KV KSČ, OV KSČ v Písku, OV KSČ v Táboře, Lidové milice
FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín)
Singer dívčí sbor
Song Composer František Kmoch
Song Composer lidová slovenská píseň
Writer of Lyrics Samo Tomášik
Singer Josef Beksbor
Song Composer František Kmoch
Singer Martin Štěpánek
Proč nevěřit na zázraky
Proč nevěřit na zázraky
Why Not Believe in Miracles?
film
featuretheatrical distribution
tragicomedy
Czechoslovakia
1977
1977
withdrawal from distribution 3 October 1983
premiere 21 April 1978 /suitable for youths/
feature film
85 min
2 529 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,66
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech, German, Russian
without subtitles
Czech
Festival: 18. festival filmů pro děti Gottwaldov
1978
Zlín / Czechoslovakia