Catalogue of Czech Television Programmes
The third part of the loose series appearing under the name “Victims”, this time about a workman – let us call him Mr. Brown - who thought it his natural and unqualified duty as a good citizen to testify in a case of criminal offence – and found himself on the fringe of the so-called decent society as a result.One evening, on his way home from a local pub, Mr. Brown became witness to a car burglary. He raised alarm, alerting the neighbours, and saw the burglar, a young girl, beating with an iron rod the car owner who came running to the scene. When the police arrived, Mr. Brown offered himself as a witness, against the advice of his wife, friends and colleagues. After the first hearing of evidence, he is approached by the wife of the car owner, who is in hospital recovering from his injuries. Mr. Brown himself manages to visit him in hospital shortly before the old man dies. Burglary involving assault and battery thus becomes murder. And Mr. Brown’s life starts coming to pieces in an odd way. He loses his job, someone demolishes his car, he is getting anonymous telephone threats. He refuses to accept a bribe offered by the mother of the offender in an attempt to stop him from testifying against her daughter – but his wife accepts it, causing him further trouble. His daughter leaves home, and the family find themselves totally without means. His wife leaves him as well, and when one day he finds his flat sealed because the rent has not been paid, he ends up among the homeless.
SD | 82' | © 2001
director(s): Petr Slavík
producer(s): Czech Television
scriptwriter(s): Miroslav Sovják
director of photography: Vladimír Holomek
cast: Jaromír Hanzlík, Jitka Smutná, M. Procházková, František Němec, Petr Kostka, Alena Procházková, Ester Geislerová and others
original language: Czech
subtitles available: English