THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

AT' ŽIJE REPUBLIKA

Title: Ať žije republika
English Title: Long Live the Republic!
Year of Release: 1965
Director: Karel Kachyňa, who also made such boy movies as Práče / The Slinger (1960), Už zase skáču přes kaluže / Jumping Over Puddles Again (1970), Setkání v červenci / Meeting in July (1978), with the redoubtable Tomáš Holý, and Zlatí úhoři / Golden Eels (1979)
Screenwriters: Karel Kachyňa and Jan Procházka collaborated on the script.
Genre: Coming-of-age
Country of Production: Czechoslovakia
Length: 2 hours, 12 minutes
Language: Czech
Principal boy actor: Zdeněk Lstibůrek plays Oldřich (Olda) Vařeka, nicknamed Pind'a (Midget). There are several other boy actors in the film, who are not identified.
Availability: Released on blu-ray by Second Run in 2026. The release includes an essay by film historian Peter Hames.

Synopsis
As everyone knows, the Czechs have the best cinema in the world, and this deeply beautiful film is surely one of its finest examples. In a Moravian village in 1945, 12 year old Olda (nicknamed Pind'a, or Midget, due to his diminutive stature) witnesses the departure of the defeated German army and the arrival of the Russians. The story is told from Olda's point of view, blending together his contemporary experiences, his memories, and his fantasies. His father beats him constantly; the village boys pick on him and he in turn engages in acts of petty malice against them. The villagers are anything but heroic. The one man to show kindness to Olda, and who understands and shares his love and sympathy for animals (including his beloved horse Julina), is hounded to his death at the end of the war by a village mob who accuse him of collaboration. A banner in the village centre proclaims that the village has always fulfilled its obligations to the Reich; but when the Germans flee and the Russians advance, it is replaced by the inevitable 'Long Live the Republic!'

A brief clip from the film, with commentary from Mark Cousins, can be viewed on Youtube here.

Source material
The film was based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Jan Procházka, who had a long-standing collaborative relationship with director Karel Kachyňa, and wrote the novel with the intention of turning it into a film directed by Kachyňa. In fact, the novel, though completed in 1963, was not published until a month after the premiere of the film.

The full title of the novel (and the film) is Ať žije republika (Já a Julina a konec velké války), front cover below left. An English translation of this wonderful novel was published in 1973 under the title Long Live the Republic (All about me, and Julie, and the end of the Great War) (below, right).

   

Below: Dual language (French and English) film programme, which includes a lengthy synopsis, and information about the director and the writer. It also includes photos from the film and some of the illustrations (by Jiří Trnka) that accompanied the original novel. Click on image to open programme as a PDF in a new tab. (From Editor's personal collection.)

Screenshots