Czech Film Center

Synopsis

Are the Czechs happy? What do they lack? What hurts and troubles them? What do they strive for? Are the Czechs impassive or do they desire personal and social changes? What is the life feeling of a contemporary citizen of Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic? In March 2006 Ivan Vojnár’s documentary crew searched for answers to some of these questions focusing mostly on reflections of personal issues and feelings. Has the social and political climate changed considerably since 1989? A waitress at an international hotel is setting tables for breakfast. Her feeling is that “not much has changed since the Revolution, perhaps just traveling, people are weary, they don’t know who to vote for. I have a daughter who is to go to college, the things that we are facing, I am quite scared of all the things we are facing.” Are the replies truthful or are they partial self-stylizations? Aren’t the Czechs prone to accepting certain roles and masks? What is the problem? How to get rid of it? The film is not offering solutions; it just explores the ideas of present-day Czechs. The French documentary filmmaker Jean Rouch says that cinéma vérité is not about representing truth but about truthful representation. The director Ivan Vojnár drew inspiration from public inquiry films from the 1960’s: Jean Rouch’s Chronique d’un été, Chris Marker’s Le Joli mai and the film of moral discomfort by Czech filmmaker Evald Schorm – Zrcadlení.