It is 1907 and, having embarked on the final stage of his life in Tbilisi, Georgia, Czech singer and choirmaster Josef Navrátil recalls his professional career. The protégé of the great composer Bedřich Smetana is forced to seek work abroad having fallen out of favour with the Prague Provisional Theatre’s director. Using the assumed name of Ratili, he and his family eventually find a new home in Georgia. Once in the country, Navrátil devotes his efforts to writing down and performing folk songs… The film, directed by Georgi Kalatozishvili, was made in 1983 in a Czech-Georgian coproduction with Vít Olmer playing the lead. Several other parts also went to Czech actors: the main protagonist’s exhausted wife was Jana Březinová while the role of Smetana went to Otto Budín. Viewers are treated to the beauty of the Georgian landscape as well as the folk songs performed by an ensemble of dudukists.
It is 1907, and in the Georgian capital Tiflisu (what is today Tbilisi) a male choir comes to greet the fatally ill Czech Josef Navrátil, called Ratili, by singing a song for him under his hospital window - and it was actually Navrátil who established the choir years ago. His thoughts return to Prague, 1874. He is a young and gifted opera singer, performing in the choir of the so-called Provisional Theatre (Prozatímní divadlo) at the premiere of the famous Czech opera by Smetana, The Bartered Bride. The composer Smetana is rather favourable towards him, but the director Maýr refuses to cast him as a soloist due to nothing but personal aversion. Josef sings in Czech theatres and the critics are very amiable towards him. His stand-in in Teplice is highly admired by the Italian diva Masacci. She not only loves his singing but also him. The handsome guy is, however, married. Masacci arranges an engagement for him in Helsinki and also invents his pseudonym, Ratili. Navrátil's wife is jealous but she is the main support for Josef and moreover brings up their two children. It turns out after some time that the Finnish opera has no money to pay. Ratili leaves for a Russian tour. He can hear a folk choir singing in various places from the Georgian border. He settles in Tiflisu for some time. During his visit to Prague in 1882, Maýr refuses to admit him to the new National Theatre, and Josef moves to Georgia with his family for good. He transcribes music notations, adapts folk songs and establishes choirs, also feverishly looking for patrons, thus helping to anchor the folk music as the firm foundation of Georgian culture. He thus becomes an inseparable part of Georgian history.
Josef Navrátil was born on March 13, 1840, in the village of Dobšice, house land-registry No. 16, as the youngest son of farmer Jan Navrátil and Rozálie, born Pošíková from Budměřice. He was active as a teacher in Městec Králové and sang in the choir of the so-called Provisional Theatre in Prague for ten years as an outstanding tenor. The present film captures his life in the years to follow. Navrátil returned three times from Russia to give a guest performance in the Prague National Theatre; he was, however, never engaged there.
Josef Navrátil, uměleckým jménem Ratili
Marie, Navrátilova žena
Voice by Alena Procházková
italská pěvkyně Enriche Masacciová
Voice by Miroslav Moravec
zpěvák a folklorista Filiomon Koridze
Voice by Ladislav Županič
novinář Tumanov
skladatel Bedřich Smetana
Václav, Josefův bratr
ředitel Národního divadla Jan Nepomuk
finský impresário Kaarlo Bergboom
lékař v Tiflisu
lékař v Praze
Maiko Amilachvari
poštovní úředník
Josef jako chlapec
Josefův syn
přítel
přítel
asistent
hospodský
inspicient
impresário
hudebník
vedoucí orchestru
kníže Eristov
dudukista
dudukista
dudukista
dudukista
člen orchestru
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hudebník
hudebník
Drahomíra Králová, Guram Mgeladze, Miša Kalatozišvili
Karina Sardlišvili, Karina Ovanova, Vasilij Mindiašvili, Zdeněk Fiala
Georgij Kalatozišvili
Vladimír Bor, M. Modebadze /ž/
Lubomír Moravec, Jiří Vitvar, Šota Nikoladze, Robert Pogosov
František Pilný, Ladislav Bacílek, Zdenka Prchlíková, Jana Jarolímková, Guram Barnabišvili, B. Margišvili
Michail Naneišvili, Gedeon Balančivadze, Jana Koubová, Jarmila Tomišková
Zdeněk Hurník, Aleš Komárek
Zuzana Čvančarová (klapka), Vladimír Souček (fotograf), Neli Devnozašvili, M. Hellmuthová, D. Puchašvili, G. Mčelidze
Giuseppe Verdi (Aida), Giuseppe Verdi (Trubadúr), Bedřich Smetana (Prodaná nevěsta /Dobrá věc se podařila/), Bedřich Smetana (Libuše /fanfáry/), Gaetano Donizetti (Nápoj lásky /L'elisir d'amore/ – árie Una furtiva lagrima), Charles François Gounod (Faust a Markéta)
Státní symfonický orchestr Gruzie (Music Conducted by Džansug Kachidze), Gruzínský lidový národní pěvecký sbor Rustavi (Music Conducted by A. Erkomaišvili), Mužský folklórní soubor gruzínské televize a rozhlasu (Music Conducted by Temur Kvechišvili)
Singer Lidový soubor dudukistůMužský folklórní soubor gruzínské televize a rozhlasuGruzínský lidový soubor Rustavi
Singer Pavel Zajíc
Singer Medeja AmiranašviliAlexandr Chaneriki
Písně by neměly umírat
Písně by neměly umírat
Songs Should Never Die
Gmadlobt Ratili
Díky Ratili
film
featuretheatrical distribution
biography
Czechoslovakia, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
1983
1983
withdrawal from distribution 31 December 1989
premiere 1 February 1984 /suitable for youths/
1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Jiří Blažek (vedoucí 1. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)
feature film
87 min
2 488 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Czech
Festival: 22. festival českých a slovenských filmů Banská Bystrica
1984
Banská Bystrica / Czechoslovakia
kolektiv tvůrců filmu