The Little Herdsman from the Valley

Country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1983

Production year

1983

Premiere

1 March 1984

Runtime

80 min

Category

film

Genre

psychological

Typology

featuretheatrical distributionlong

Original title

Pasáček z doliny

Czech title

Pasáček z doliny

English title

The Little Herdsman from the Valley

Working title

Poklad

Summary

During his career as a director, František Vláčil didn’t pay much attention to children’s heroes: apart from the highly praised Holubice (The White Dove, 1960), Pověst o stříbrné jedli (The Legend of the Silver Fir, 1973) and Sirius (1974), he also directed Pasáček z doliny (The Little Herdsman from the Valley, 1983), inspired by the renowned author Ladislav Fuks’ novel. Although Jiří Fried and the experienced screenwriter Jiří Křižan worked on the script – telling the story of a simple village boy who finds an escape in the fairytales told by his grandfather – interest in this Vláčil film remained marginal. The ballad-like tales are set during the summer of 1947 in Wallachia, but they nonetheless resonate with the other works in the director’s dynamic opus set in the post-war years – Adelheid (1969) – and Stíny horkého léta (Shadows of a Hot Summer, 1977). The young Vlastimil Drbal also appeared in Vláčil’s Stín kapradiny (The Shadow of a Fern, 1984). The role of the grandfather went to Josef Kemr, whom Vláčil first met during the shooting of Marketa Lazarová (1967) and for the final time in the Karel Hynek Mácha drama Mág. (The Magician, 1987).

Synopsis

It is 1947 and the Beskydy Mountains still display traces of war. A ten-year old boy pastures a herd of cows in a meadow housing a damaged German tank. The little herdsman lives with his half-blind grandfather in a village poorhouse. His mother Kateřina, an apathetic and unhinged woman, works for the farmer Potocký. The boy has no father. He has got used to working from morning till evening and he never attended school. No one ever stands up for him, only Uncle Králík comes from time to time and brings him a gift. He also enjoys the love of his granddad who often tells him stories about the elf king and his treasure. In the meantime, two members of the troops supporting the Ukrainian nationalist Bandera, nicknamed Blondy and Beardy, have a deal with the village mayor that a sabotage group will pass through the village. The mayor should mark the cottages of those who are "reliable". In the evening, in a pub, the boy hears about the Bandera supporters and some magical signs on gates. The mayor denies everything. Králík succeeds in convincing the mayor that the little herdsman should go to school, in the winter at least. The boy tells the joyous news to his grandfather who tells him one must make an offering to the elf king in order to be rewarded with treasure. In the morning, the little herdsman takes everything he can find in the poorhouse and sets off to see the king. Blondy and Beardy show up at the pasture and the boy mistakes them for the elf king and his helper. The two then disappear, and the boy finds a metal thing under the mayor's calf, having no idea that it is actually a land mine, and takes his find to the village. - The National Security Corps arrive at the village to disarm the Bandera troops. The little herdsman talks about his encounter with the elf king. The mayor laughs at him. But the corps' commander and Králík soon grasp what is at stake. The Bandera supporters want to seize the mayor's calf. The little herdsman defends the animal and the men wound him. While the National Security Corps unit searches the surroundings, the boy is taken away by ambulance. The mayor pretends to care for him but no one believes him. Times have changed.

Cast

Libuše Geprtová

služka Kateřina, pasáčkova matka

Jiří Schmitzer

strýc Cyril Králík

Jiří Němeček

sedlák Potocký

Zdeněk Dušek

banderovec Bradatý

Jiří Štěpnička

Voice by Ondřej Havelka
banderovec Blondýn

Bronislav Poloczek

hajný Jožin Valchař

Eva Kudláčková

Katka, dcera starostových

Václav Sloup

hospodský

Radka Fidlerová

Voice by Inka Šecová
hospodská

Zdeňka Sajfertová

děvečka Mařa

Rudolf Pellar

lékař-turista

Karel Hlušička

Voice by Mirko Musil
vrchní strážmistr, velitel SNB

Eva Matějčková

děvečka Bětka

Vladimír Machoň

Štěpán

Tomáš Martínek

Matúš

Alexej Pyško

zarostlý voják

Miroslav Středa

voják-řidič

Jiří Schmidt

bosý voják

obyvatelé Karolinky

obyvatelé vesnice

Crew and creators

Second Unit Director

Martin Mahdal

Assistant Director

Antonín Kopřiva, Tomáš Urban

Based on

Ladislav Fuks (Pasáček z doliny – novela)

Screenplay

Jiří Fried, Jiří Křižan (spolupráce na dialozích)

Director of Photography

František Uldrich

Second Unit Photography

Jiří Ondráček

Camera Operator

Vladimír Murat

Production Designer

Jaromír Švarc

Assistent Production Designer

Roman Květoň

Set Designer

Ladislav Winkelhöfer, Libor Čížek, Jiří Žák

Film Editor

Miroslav Hájek

Assistant Film Editor

Magda Hájková

Sound Designer

František Fabián

Special Effects

Jiří Milfait

Production Manager

Jaroslav Solnička

Unit Production Manager

Milan Štěch, Ludmila Venclíková

Unit Production Manager

František Nejedlý, Luboš Kozák

Cooperation

Vítězslava Marčíková (klapka), Lenka Mojžíšová (klapka), Jiří Novák (vrchní osvětlovač), Miloslav Mirvald (fotograf)

Music

Music Composed by

Milan Dvořák

Music Performed by

FISYO (Music Conducted by František Belfín), Eva Pilarová /vokály/

Songs

Po nebi leťá kačeři /Po nebi letí kačeři/

Song Composer Milan Dvořák
Writer of Lyrics Ladislav Nezdařil
Singer Karel Černoch

Production info

Original Title

Pasáček z doliny

Czech Title

Pasáček z doliny

English Title

The Little Herdsman from the Valley

Working Title

Poklad

Category

film

Typology

featuretheatrical distribution

Genre

psychological

Origin country

Czechoslovakia

Copyright

1983

Production Year

1983

Production specifications

literary Screenplay approved 03/1980
technical Screenplay approved 06/1982
start of filming 22 April 1983
end of filming 1 July 1983
projection approval 30 September 1983
withdrawal from distribution 30 June 1990

Premiere

festival premiere 19 January 1984 (35. filmový festival pracujících – zima ´84 /kino Světozor, Praha/)
premiere 1 March 1984 /suitable for youths/

Studio

Hostivař

Creative Group

3. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupina, Václav Erben (vedoucí 3. dramaturgicko-výrobní skupiny)

Technical info

Duration typology

feature film

Duration in minutes

80 min

Original length in metres

2 290 meters

Distribution carrier

16mm, 35mm

Aspect ratio

1:1,37

Colour

colour

Sound

sound

Sound system/format

mono

Versions

Czech

Dialogue languages

Czech

Subtitles languages

without subtitles

Opening/End credits languages

Czech

Awards

Vítěz

Festival: 9. mezinárodní filmový festival Quito

1986
Quito / Ecuador

Vítěz

Festival: 22. mezinárodní filmový festival Chicago

1986
Chicago / United States of America

Vítěz

Festival: 22. festival českých a slovenských filmů Banská Bystrica

1984
Banská Bystrica / Czechoslovakia
František Vláčil

Vítěz

Festival: 22. festival českých a slovenských filmů Banská Bystrica

1984
Banská Bystrica / Czechoslovakia
František Uldrich