Many artists of the Czechoslovak New Wave had to publicly atone for their works of the 1960s by making films that were openly subservient to the “normalisation” ideology. Among them was Jaromil Jireš, the director of a forbidden drama based on a Milan Kundera novel, Žert (The Joke, 1968). Following his poetic tale of a young communist girl waiting for execution in a Nazi prison, …a pozdravuji vlaštovky (Greetings to the Swallows, 1972), Jireš realised the narrative film Lidé z metra (People from the Subway, 1974). Incorporating the construction of the C line of the Prague metro, he takes us into the personal stories of the three protagonists: an estranged couple is reunited through the demolition of an old house, an old labourer aids the completion of the project with an idea, and an emotionally alienated Polish worker is able to change his life when he finds an old coin. The characters are brought together during a trial run of the new metro line… The interesting casting enhances the quality of the film.
Three short stories. Prague finally sees the approval of the subway construction. Thousands of individuals took part in preparing, course and finalizing construction of subway and their lives crossed at certain points of this construction.
inženýr Brousek, hlavní projektant
Brouskova žena
syn Brouskových
svářeč Cyril Svojtka
Ivana
Brunclík, Cyrilův kolega
číšník v baru
Cyrilův přítel
baraba Bohuslav Fiala zvaný Bulfas
projektant inženýr Jan Roháček
inženýr Röckl
Čihák, Bulfasův kamarád
Junk, Bulfasův kamarád
Kačer, Bulfasův kamarád
Kamil Mašek
Andulka
inženýr Havránek
Brázda
hostinský U zeleného stromu
Bogan, řidič pásového nakladače
Babiak, mistr na stavbě
překupník Motejlek
studentka archeologie Jana Říhová
úřednice Jitka
Dagmara
asistent fakulty archeologie
prodavačka ve starožitnostech
vrátný Franta
vrchní číšník
účetní
vrátný
kamelot
číšník
tajný
tajný
kameraman
dívka v baru
výrostek
výrostek
baraba
baraba
baraba
baraba
hlas číšníka
Bohumil Koška, Anna Lackovičová
Bohumír Schwarzer, Jiří Knotek
Eva Charvátová
Ing. Karel Matzner
Danuše Kubátová, Zdeněk Dukát, Růžena Hejsková, Jana Šimonová, Jan Sedláček (2)
Antonín Dvořák (Rusalka /árie Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém/)
Štěpán Koníček (FISYO)
Na Šumavě je dolina
Vladimír Hlavatý (Na Šumavě je dolina), L. H. Struna (Na Šumavě je dolina), Bohumil Šmída (Na Šumavě je dolina)
Lidé z metra
People from the Subway
povídkový film
feature
short-story
Czechoslovakia
1974
1974
17 May 1974