''The Elementary School'' ( cs, Obecná škola) is a 1991 Czechoslovak

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by Jan Svěrák. The screenplay comes from the pen of his father Zdeněk Svěrák. The film was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

in 1991 and is considered to belong among the best Czechoslovak films ever. A

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

, '' Barefoot'', was released in 2017. The film is set in the early

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

period, in a suburban elementary school in Prague's vicinity. A war hero is hired as a teacher, and asked to discipline an unruly class of boys. He soon earns their respect, but he is threatened with termination over his reputed sexual relationship with two schoolgirls.

Plot

Shortly after World War II, in 1945–46, in one of the suburbs of Prague (the film was shot in Michle), Eda Souček attends a boys' elementary school where he belongs to a class with a complete lack of discipline. After the class drives their teacher Maxová to a mental breakdown during one of her classes, the schoolmaster has to implement special measures. Authoritative Igor Hnízdo, who is said to be a great war hero, is hired as their new teacher. He immediately introduces corporal punishment, which, as he explains, is not normally allowed, but the school has received an exception from the Ministry of Education, especially for their class. Whenever he is not satisfied with the boys' behavior, Hnízdo asks them to flex their arms and hits their palms several times with a flexible switch. Despite his strict methods, the boys soon become charmed by the man. They love his battlefront stories and the fact that he is always armed and wears a uniform. Eda sees him as the very opposite of his own father, whom he considers to be too cowardly. Hnízdo makes the same positive impression on the townspeople (including Eda's mother). Nevertheless, his persona is also surrounded by many controversies. He is a notorious womanizer and is said to have a special weakness for young girls. His war heroism is also disputed as he is unable to provide any accurate information about his military service. There is even an unconfirmed rumor that Hnízdo's role during the war was to guard a

herd A herd is a social group of certain animals of the same species, either wild or domestic. The form of collective animal behavior associated with this is called ''herding''. These animals are known as gregarious animals. The term ''herd'' is ...

of goats. But the boys from his class refuse to believe it and even fight those who are spreading these rumors. Hnízdo's reputation suffers after he is accused of having a sexual relationship with local twins who attend a

girls school Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...

in the same area. He is forced to leave because this is not the first time he has been involved in a similar scandal. The formerly unmanageable boys begin to defend Hnízdo and call for his return. The accusation is finally withdrawn and Hnízdo is reinstalled as their teacher. He states that the way how they dealt with the accusation is a proof that their relationship is now based on mutual trust and physical punishments are no longer required and breaks his switch in half.

Cast

* Václav Jakoubek as Eda Souček * Jan Tříska as Igor Hnízdo * Radoslav Budác as Tonda * Zdeněk Svěrák as František Souček *

Libuše Šafránková Libuše Šafránková (7 June 1953 – 9 June 2021, married as ''Abrhámová'') was a Czech actress. Her husband was actor Josef Abrhám. Her breakthrough was the title role in the 1973 film '' Three Nuts for Cinderella'', which is considered ...

as Mrs. Součková * Rudolf Hrušínský as Schoolmaster * Rudolf Hrušínský Jr. as Tonda's father *

Eva Holubová Eva Holubová (born 7 March 1959) is a Czech actress. She is known for having cured herself of alcoholism. She received a Czech Lion Award in 2000 for her supporting role in the film ''Ene Bene'' and in 2006, she was nominated for the Best Actre ...

as Tonda's mother *

Petr Čepek Petr Čepek (16 September 1940 – 20 September 1994) was a Czech actor. Life He studied acting at Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague at the same class as Ladislav Mrkvička, Josef Abrhám, Jiří Krampol or Jana Drbo ...

as Josef Mrázek (aka fakir Rádži Tamil) * Boleslav Polívka as Plíha *

Ondřej Vetchý Ondřej Vetchý (born 16 May 1962) is a Czech actor. He was born in Jihlava, Czechoslovakia. He is currently employed at The Drama Club (DC) in Prague. Notable performances * 2005 – Katurian in ''The Pillowman'', DC * 2004 – Carluccio i ...

as Tram driver * Irena Pavlásková as Tram driver's wife * Daniela Kolářová as Teacher Maxová

Production

The original story was written by Zdeněk Svěrák. He used his own experiences both as a pupil of a similar school and as a former teacher. This is the first of the films created by the successful father screenwriter - son director duo. The others include '' Akumulátor I.'' (1993), '' Kolja'' (1996), ''

Tmavomodrý svět ''Dark Blue World'' ( cs, Tmavomodrý svět) is a 2001 film by Czech Republic, Czech director Jan Svěrák, the Academy Award-winning director of ''Kolya'', about Czechs, Czech pilots who fought for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Wo ...

'' (2000) and ''

Vratné lahve ''Empties'' ( cs, Vratné lahve) is a 2007 film directed by Jan Svěrák and written by his father Zdeněk Svěrák, who also stars in the film. It was released first in the Czech Republic in March 2007. The film is a comedy from the same team w ...

'' (2007). It was also the first non-documentary film by Jan Svěrák. Obecná škola is also notable because it includes one of the last roles for two prominent Czech actors Rudolf Hrušínský (his last big screen film) and

(appeared in two more films before his death). The film was also the first appearance of Jan Tříska in a Czech film since his emigration to the United States in 1977.

References

External links

* *
Movie details (in Czech)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elementary School, The 1991 films 1990s Czech-language films 1991 comedy-drama films Czech comedy-drama films Films about educators Films about veterans Films directed by Jan Svěrák Films set in 1945 Films set in 1946 Films set in Prague Films shot in Prague Films with screenplays by Zdeněk Svěrák Golden Kingfisher winners Czechoslovak World War II films Czechoslovak comedy-drama films Films set in schools

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links