| The Shop on Main Street | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Ján Kadár Elmar Klos |
| Written by | Ladislav Grosman Ján Kadár Elmar Klos |
| Based on | The Shop on Main Street byLadislav Grosman |
| Starring | Ida Kamińska Jozef Kroner Hana Slivková Martin Hollý, Sr. František Zvarík Martin Gregor |
| Cinematography | Vladimír Novotný |
| Edited by | Diana Heringová Jaromír Janáček |
| Music by | Zdeněk Liška |
Production company | |
Release date |
|
Running time | 125 minutes |
| Country | Czechoslovakia |
| Languages | Slovak Yiddish |
| Box office | $1,450,000 (US/ Canada)[1] |
The Shop on Main Street (Czech/Slovak:Obchod na korze; in the UKThe Shop on the High Street) is a 1965Czechoslovak film[2] about theAryanization program during World War II in theSlovak Republic.[3]
The film was written byLadislav Grosman and directed byJán Kadár andElmar Klos. It was funded by the Czechoslovak central authorities, produced at theBarrandov Film Studio in Prague, and filmed with a Slovak cast on location in the town ofSabinov innorth-eastern Slovakia and on the Barrandovsound stage. It starsJozef Kroner as theSlovak carpenter Tóno Brtko and Polish actressIda Kamińska as the Jewish widow Rozália Lautmannová.[4]
The film won the 1965Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film,[5] and Kamińska was nominated one year later forBest Actress in a Leading Role, making her thefirst Polish actress to be nominated for an Oscar.[6] It was entered into the1965 Cannes Film Festival.[7]
During World War II in a small town in theFirst Slovak Republic (aclient state ofNazi Germany), mild-mannered Slovak carpenter Antonín "Tóno" Brtko is chosen by his brother-in-law, who holds an influential position in the localfascist government, to take over thesewing notions (i.e.haberdasher) shop owned by the elderly Jewish widow Rozália Lautmannová as part of theAryanization efforts in the country. While Brtko is struggling to explain to Lautmannová, who is nearly deaf, oblivious to the outside world, and generally confused, that he is now her supervisor, Imrich Kuchár, Brtko's friend and a Slovak who opposes Aryanization, enters and informs Brtko that the business is unprofitable and Lautmannová relies on donations to make ends meet. Kuchár tells Lautmannová that Brtko has come to help her and connects Brtko with the leadership of the Jewish community of the town, who agree to pay him a regular salary to remain the official Aryan controller of the shop, since, if he quits, he might be replaced by someone more militantly fascist oranti-Semitic.
Brtko lets Lautmannová continue to run things in her shop, spending most of his time fixing her furniture or ineptly trying to assist her with customers, and the pair begin to develop a close relationship. When he hears that the authorities are going to gather the Jewish citizenry of the town and transport them elsewhere en masse, he does not tell Lautmannová and at first considers hiding her, but he starts to question this course of action when the roundup actually begins. Drinking steadily, he eventually loses his nerve and attempts to cajole and then force Lautmannová to join her friends in the street. She finally recognizes that apogrom is happening and panics. Brtko chases her around inside the shop, but he stops and feels ashamed of himself after he witnesses his other Jewish neighbors actually being carted away. Seeing some soldiers heading toward the shop, he throws Lautmannová, who is in a frenzy, into a closet to hide her. The soldiers just glance in the window and keep walking. When Brtko opens the closet door, he discovers Lautmannová's dead body,[a] and, devastated, hangs himself. The movie ends with a fantasy sequence in which the now deceased Lautmannová and Brtko run and dance through the town square together.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Jozef Kroner (1924–1998) | Antonín "Tóno" Brtko, a carpenter |
| Ida Kamińska (1899–1980) | Rozália Lautmannová, a button-store owner |
| Hana Slivková (1923–1984) | Evelína Brtková, Tóno's wife |
| Martin Hollý Sr. (1904–1965) | Imrich Kuchár, a friend of Tóno & Rozália and a member of the resistance |
| František Zvarík (1921–2008) | Markuš Kolkotský, Tóno's brother-in-law and the town commander |
| Elena Pappová-Zvaríková (1935–1974) | Ružena "Róžika" Kolkotská, Markuš' wife and Evelína's sister |
| Adam Matejka (1905–1988) | Piti-báči (Uncle Piti), the town crier |
| Martin Gregor (1906–1982) | Mr. Katz, a barber |
| František Papp (1930–1983) | Mr. Andorič, Rozália's neighbor and a railroad employee |
| Gita Mišurová (b. 1929) | Mrs. Andoričová, Mr. Andorič's wife |
| Eugen Senaj (1901–1981) | Mr. Blau, a publisher and the Jewish community treasurer |
| Lujza Grossová (1917–1981) | Mrs. Eliášová, Rozália's neighbor |
| J. Mittelmann | Daniel "Danko" Eliáš, Mrs. Eliášová's son |
| Mikuláš Ladžinský (1923–1987) | Marian Peter, a paramilitary guard officer |
| Alojz Kramár (1916–1985) | Balko-báči (Uncle Balko), a brass-band conductor |
| Tibor Vadaš (1908–1987) | Tobacconist |
The Shop on Main Street was filmed on location at the town ofSabinov innorth-eastern Slovakia with numerous local extras, whose voices bring in hints of theeastern regional variety of Slovak.Ida Kamińska'sPolish accent is employed to the same effect.
The screenplay had a bilingual Czech/Slovak history. The screenwriterLadislav Grosman (1921–1981) was born and grew up inSlovakia, but he was writing inCzech at that point in his career. He published the short story "The Trap" ("Past"), a precursor to the screenplay that contained three themes that made it into the final film, in Czech in 1962.[8] He reworked and expanded this story, still in Czech, as a literary-narrative screenplay that was published in 1964 under the title "The Shop on Main Street" (Obchod na korze).[9] This version contained what would become the film's storyline, but it was not in a typical (American) screenplay format.[10] Grosman reworked it into a shooting script withSlovak dialogue in cooperation with the film's designated directors,Ján Kadár andElmar Klos.
The only other language in the film, other than Slovak, is Yiddish (which is sometimes misidentified as German), though this is limited to several lines that Mrs. Lautmannová mutters to herself. Her Hebrew reading from thesiddur is indistinct.
The film was a collaborative effort between theCzechoslovak Socialist Republic and theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. This collaboration was primarily due to the difficulties faced by the filmmakers in securing funding and logistical support within Czechoslovakia. Yugoslavia offered both financial support and access to locations that closely resembled the wartime Slovak setting of the story. The main filming location was the scenic village of Sabinov in Slovakia, which made the ideal setting for the fictional town portrayed in the movie.
The score was composed by Zdenek Liska. It incorporates traditional brass band style music that would have been common in Czechoslovakia during the 1940s. The soundtrack was released on record in the US—the first Czechoslovak movie soundtrack to see such a release.[11]
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Critics at the time praised the film for its profound exploration of the human psyche in the face of dire circumstances. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes,100% of 15 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.9/10.[12]The Shop on Main Street was particularly lauded for its ability to navigate the delicate balance between humor and tragedy, often using dark humor to highlight the absurdity of the situation.
