Lee Eisenberg
Ján Kadár's and Elmar Klos's "Obchod na korze" ("The Shop on Main Street" in English) is a look at the human condition in times of repression. Jozef Kroner plays Tono Brtko, an unaccomplished carpenter in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. The puppet government appoints him owner of a button shop operated by Jewish widow Rozália Lautmannová* (Ida Kaminska). However, she is unaware of what is going on outside her shop and simply assumes that Tono wants a job. But as the plot progresses, it becomes clear that he can't hide current events from her much longer.The movie won Best Foreign Language Film for 1965, and with good reason. It starts out looking a bit silly, but grows more and more serious as it continues, culminating in a very tense sequence towards the end. One might call it a precursor to "Life Is Beautiful", but it's very much a serious movie. A really effective scene is when a paramilitary group marches down the street singing a song that says something to the effect of "Slovakia for the Slovaks" and arrive at a structure (whose construction is shown throughout the movie) that most likely proclaims something about freedom and life. It just shows what these people are all about.This is definitely one that I recommend. I've read some about the Czech New Wave, and I assume that "The Shop on Main Street" was part of that. Truly one that you should see. Also starring Hana Slivková, Martin Hollý Sr, and Frantiek Zvarík.*The subtitles call her Mrs. Lautmann. Lautmannová is Slovakization to create a feminine form of the surname.
JasparLamarCrabb
A masterpiece. Set during WWII and directed by Jan Kadar & Elmar Klos, THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET tells the story of a Czech carpenter who refuses to bow to the local Nazis (unfortunately led by his opportunist brother-in-law) and is made the "Aryan owner" of a button shop owned by an elderly Jewish widow. She mistakes him for her assistant and he has no interest whatsoever in the business. He fixes her furniture and eventually attempts to save her from impending deportation. Ida Kaminska is the old lady and Josef Kronar is the carpenter. They're brilliant. Kaminska is particularly beguiling and it's never really clear if she actually does know what's going on. The movie is about the horrors of the holocaust, the ambivalence of some people and the cowardice of others. A truly great, very haunting movie.
deschreiber
I have little more to add to the praise in all the other comments here, except perhaps to suggest that some of them go too far. It's an excellent film, well worth seeing, very moving and very believable, all the more effective for the way it moves so quietly, step-by-step from common, everyday life to something more horrible. A scene that will stay with me is when all the town's Jews are gathered with their bags and suitcases in the town square, then are led off in a grim procession and disappear around a corner. No shooting, no beating, but it gives one the shivers.I did find the ending disappointing. I don't think a man like that would commit suicide. Yes, he would feel terrible about causing the death of the old lady, and he would be afraid of being beaten and killed for having harbored a Jew. But he is not a brave man--far from it. I don't think he has the firmness of will to hang himself. I think he'd run away and hide. After being found, he'd place his hopes in begging for forgiveness from his Fascist brother-in-law before taking his fate into his own hands. So the suicide struck me as conventional, too easy, just a convenient way to round off the plot.
Claudio Carvalho
In 1942, in a small town in Czechoslovakia, the poor carpenter Tony Brtko (Jozef Króner) is assigned "Aryanizator" of a small shop on the main street by his fascist brother-in-law Mark Kolkotsky (Frantisek Zvarík). His greedy wife Evelyn (Hana Slivková) is seduced with the promise of fortune, but Tony finds that the store owned by the deaf and senile seventy year-old widow Rozalie Lautmann (Ida Kaminska) is bankrupted and the old lady is financially supported by the Jewish community that promises a salary to him to help her. Tony befriends Ms, Lautmann and helps her in the store and repairs her furniture, and lures his wife with his salary. When the Jews are expelled from the town by the fascist, Tony decides to help the old lady. "Obchod na Korze" is one of those movies that make you laugh and cry. The tragic-comic and heartbreaking story of a flawed Aryan man and a senile Jewish widow is very well developed and the viewer is able to understand the despair of the lead character absolutely powerless against the powers that be, in a village where everybody knows each other. His state of mind in the end with the whole situation associated to the booze drives him to his ultimate decision. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "A Pequena Loja da Rua Principal" ("The Little Shop of the Main Street")
AD
