The world of horse breeding and horse racing is a recurring subject in Czechoslovak film, especially in connection with stories targeted at younger viewers. Such is the case with Dynamit (Dynamite), the 1989 feature-film debut of director Milan Cieslar. The main protagonist is student Martina, who spends a summer working at her uncle’s stud farm. In the course of her stay, she becomes entangled in a drama involving a potential champion horse at the struggling stable named Dynamit. A greedy foreigner wants the prized horse, and sets about acquiring it with the aid of a corrupt trainer, and an outwardly likeable vet, with whom Martina falls in love. Cieslar enriches the gripping tale with traditional genre approaches, and a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere. Lesser-known actors also add to the impact of the work.
It is the summer holidays and the student Martina arrives at Cukentejn stud farm for her summer job. The farms's director is her uncle, engineer Vlach. The girl loves horses as much as her friend Honza and the young jockey Viktor, the son of the coach Klečka. Vlach is just selling off a stud which keeps losing him money. The paddock is empty except for the talented Dynamite, which Vlach refuses to sell to the foreigner Akedi even for the offered million. Martina becomes interested in the young and pleasant veterinarian David. Viktor trains Dynamite for an upcoming race. Honza arranges a secret ride for Martina on Dynamite, but the horse gets injured on a jump. Klečka thus bans Victor from racing and Viktor has a fight with Honza because of that. Klečka, bribed by Akedi, replaces Dynamite with a similar horse on the way to the race, getting him the same bandage and causing him a similar wound with a nail. The doubled horse ends up last. The disappointed Vlach decides to sell the unprospective Dynamite. But Martina and the two boys sense deceit. Klečka and Akedi hide Dynamite in a secret underground cellar. The double's condition worsens and Klečka takes him to the vet. But someone damaged the truck's brakes, the coach has an accident and he and the horse die in a fire. Martina tries in vain to persuade her uncle that Dynamite is still alive. She stops loving David when she catches him with Honza's philandering mother. During a night storm, Martina spots a light in Klečka's sealed room. She climbs in through the window and sees that someone has searched it thoroughly. She herself accidentally discovers a scroll of dollars in an old horse collar. Then someone knocks her out. She is helped by Viktor and Honza. Together, they investigate and find out that the culprit is David, and they find the hidden Dynamite. David runs away to a rock from the police who have arrived. When he tries to save the dollars that dropped, he falls down and dies. Viktor, riding Dynamite, wins the Pardubice Steeplechase. Martina becomes close to Honza. The horse breeding and the stud will thankfully continue at Cukentejn.
studentka Martina
Honza, Martinin kamarád
žokej Viktor
veterinář David Remeš
ředitel hřebčince Ing. Vlach, Martinin strýc
trenér Václav Klečka, Viktorův otec
Zach
devizový cizinec Akedi
hostinský, Honzův otec
manželka hostinského
Vazoun
Halíř
vrátný
muž z podniku zahraničního obchodu
Vendula
nosatý chlápek
kluk
kluk
vedoucí aukcí
kupující
kupující
dubl za Štefana Mišovice
dubl za Lucii Vačkářovou
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
hudebník
Oskar Reif, Josef Sandr, Milan Vobořil
Roman Fara, Jana Paparčíková
Jan Hodný, Karel Kočí, František Struska
Petr Čermák, Eduard Zanner, Karel Kuba
Ing. Stanislav Waksmundský, CSc., Ing. Jiří Šindler, MVDr. Jaromír Trunkát, MVDr. Jiří Dousek, Petr Hanuš, Jaroslav Tomsa, František Michálek (jezdectví)
Ivana Mrázová (klapka), Michal Fairaizl (fotograf), Státní závodiště Praha, Okresní veterinárinární správa Benešov
FISYO (Music Conducted by Mario Klemens)
Dynamit
Dynamit
Dynamite
film
featuretheatrical distribution
adventure
Czechoslovakia
1989
1988
start of filming 20 September 1988
end of filming 18 December 1988
the first film copy approved 26 May 1989
projection approval 28 July 1989
withdrawal from distribution 1 December 1993
premiere 1 August 1990 /suitable for youths/
4. tvůrčí skupina, Marcela Pittermannová (vedoucí 4. tvůrčí skupiny)
feature film
92 min
2 636 meters
16mm, 35mm
1:1,37
colour
sound
mono
Czech
Czech
without subtitles
Czech
Exhibition: 22. národní přehlídka filmů pro děti Ostrov
1990
Ostrov nad Ohří / Czechoslovakia