The Cry

TV mechanic Slávek takes his wife Ivana to the maternity hospital. From the moment they say goodbye, the couple can't stop thinking about each other. Their common life up to nowunfolds in fragments of memories: their first acquaintance at the railway bridge, the worries of living in a rented apartment, the wedding, furnishing the new flat. They also remember the small quarrels and the fact that they did not want a baby at first. Ivana is in the operating room, while Slávek keeps his appointments with customers and fixes broken TV sets. Anxious about waiting of the delivering a baby, he sensitively and newly becomes aware of the things, people and events around him. The editor's phrases as he dictates the copy typist his review of the Italian film La Dolce Vita, the children at school who must run to shelter during an air-raid warning exercise, the cynicism of a diplomat speaking ironically about fatherhood in the shadow of the impending war. At the post-office, Slavek gets into a fight with a man who was rude to a young black man. At home, at the end of this busy day and difficulties with obtaining information from the hospital, the young man falls asleep. As he is halfway dreaming he imagines hearing the cry of a newborn. He secretly goes to the hospital, already sure that their baby has been born. He pauses before Ivana's room but does not go in.