Movie No. 13 (2020): THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET
The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Directors: Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos
Cast: Ida Kaminska, Josef Kroner
In Slovak and Yiddish, with English subtitles
Directors: Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos
Cast: Ida Kaminska, Josef Kroner
In Slovak and Yiddish, with English subtitles
The Shop on Main Street won the 1965 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It's a Holocaust movie, but we'll never see concentration camps and prisoners being exterminated.
The time is World War II. The Nazis occupy a small town in Czechoslovakia. All the businesses and shops owned by Jews need to be Aryanized. One such shop is a rundown button shop owned by Rozalia, a Jewish woman. She is old, deaf, and living alone. The Aryan comptroller assigned to manage her shop is Tono, a carpenter. Tono is lazy and opportunistic, but excited and proud to be managing his own business at last. Tono's taking over of the shop that nobody visits will become a ploy of Rozalia's Aryan friends to buy time. Without an Aryan comptroller, the shop will close, and Rozalia will be sent to a concentration camp for extermination.
Tono is aware that soon the Nazis will round up the Jews, and send them to camps for extermination. Rozalia, who is clueless about her fate, develops a friendship with Tono. And it will be difficult for Tono to turn in Rozalia to the Nazis when the time comes. But, something unexpected will happen.
Despite the seriousness of the theme, the film still manages to infuse humor and lightness while weaving an examination of the human condition in one of the darkest periods in human history. But, the humor is masked grief, light but unbearable. The conclusion is heartbreaking.
This is my second viewing of the film. I liked it for the first time. I like it better this time.
The time is World War II. The Nazis occupy a small town in Czechoslovakia. All the businesses and shops owned by Jews need to be Aryanized. One such shop is a rundown button shop owned by Rozalia, a Jewish woman. She is old, deaf, and living alone. The Aryan comptroller assigned to manage her shop is Tono, a carpenter. Tono is lazy and opportunistic, but excited and proud to be managing his own business at last. Tono's taking over of the shop that nobody visits will become a ploy of Rozalia's Aryan friends to buy time. Without an Aryan comptroller, the shop will close, and Rozalia will be sent to a concentration camp for extermination.
Tono is aware that soon the Nazis will round up the Jews, and send them to camps for extermination. Rozalia, who is clueless about her fate, develops a friendship with Tono. And it will be difficult for Tono to turn in Rozalia to the Nazis when the time comes. But, something unexpected will happen.
Despite the seriousness of the theme, the film still manages to infuse humor and lightness while weaving an examination of the human condition in one of the darkest periods in human history. But, the humor is masked grief, light but unbearable. The conclusion is heartbreaking.
This is my second viewing of the film. I liked it for the first time. I like it better this time.
Rating: 4.0/4.0
Date seen: March 18, 2020
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