The Shop on Main Street (1964)

[Mr. Arkadin]

Our FF for Sunday night is a great one.
This funny/heartrending tale is set in Solvakia during WW2 under the German occupation.

Tono is a simple man who wants nothing to do with Nazis or Allies. He just wants to live his life and be left alone with his dog.

When his party member brother in law acquires a Jewish shop for him to run, he quickly changes his mind. The previous owner of the shop, an elderly Jewish woman with bad hearing mistunderstands his duty as "Aryan Controller" and thinks he is her new assistant!

Tono soon learns there is no money here. The woman is so poor that the other Jews subsidize her. Slowly, bonds of friendship form between them and they grow attached and dependant upon each other.

When the call comes that the Jews must be loaded on trains and shipped out to the death camps, Tono must make a decision and stand upon it one way or another.

Shop and Closely Watched Trains (1965) another standout Czech film, have much in common in the fact that they are both about WW2, use satire and humor, and deal with common people who must come to terms with where their morality and consciences lie. Although both of these films are set in the second World War they are actually criticisms of communism and Russia which controlled Czechoslovakia at that time.

That this film could be made little more than a decade after Stalin died (and slipped passed the censors) is flabbergasting. That it is also a great work of art and a touching portrait of humanity is more incredible still.

[Dewey1960]

As usual, another fine and eloquent assessment from you, Mr. Ark. It's been a great many years since I've seen SHOP ON MAIN STREET and I will definitely be Czeching it out Sunday night. Thanks!

[MikeBSG]

It has been over twenty years since I saw "The Shop on Main Street," but I remember it as a good movie.

Potentially controversial comment coming up.

What puzzles me is this. "Shop" is usually considered one of the best films about the Holocaust. In the movie, the goofy hero tries to conceal from a senile woman the fact that the Holocaust is taking place and that she is going to be killed. How does this differ substantially from "Life is Beautiful," in which the goofy hero tries to conceal from his child the fact that the Holocaust is taking place and that people want to kill him?

Maybe "Life is Beautiful" was overpraised, but I don't see why it should be condemned as Holocaust denial while "Shop on Main Street" is hailed as a masterpiece.

[Mr. Arkadin]

There are substantial differences in the two films. Shop deals with a man's conscience. He does not care about the war or people--only how it affects him. He is exploiting the Jewish woman and taking money from the other Jews just as any Nazi would, but as he gets to know her he begins to see her as a person. This great dilemma is the heart of the film: Should he try to save her, or protect himself? Can he as a human recognize another as human and watch them be slaughtered?

In LIB the person our character is trying to save is his son. There is no moral choice here. He does not struggle with a discision other than what is the best way to hide his son. In Shop Tono (or Tony) is not committed at all. He watches Jewish people he knows well (and non Jews whose crime was to help them) become incarcerated and held over for a firing squad. The film builds with tension as we the audience, wonder what he will do.

Tony battles greed, self preservation, and his life viewpoint. His dog is prominent in this film and shown to be a very loving compainion. He actually has a better relationship with his dog than his wife. This is not coincidence. If he can treat a dog like a human--can he treat a human like a dog?

I urge you to check out the film once more. It's really not so much about the Jewish Holocaust or Nazi's as the hearts and minds of those who stood by and allowed it to happen.

[MikeBSG]

Thanks for your comments about "Shop on Main Street" and "Life is Beautiful."

Have you ever seen the East German "Jakob the Liar" or "Stars" which is a coproduction of East Germany and Bulgaria. I think both of those rank up with "Shop on Main Street."

[Mr. Arkadin]

Mike, have heard of both of those, but not seen either one. I will try to check them out. Thanks for the tip.