Shop on Main Street, The (1965)

Shop on Main Street, The (1965)

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“I don’t understand anything any more. But I know one thing: when the law persecutes the innocent, that’s the end of it.”

Synopsis:
When a penniless carpenter (Jozef Kroner) with a disgruntled wife (Hana Slivková) in a Nazi-occuped Slovak town is given an opportunity by his Fascist brother-in-law (Frantisek Zvarík) to act as the “Aryan manager” for an elderly Jewish woman (Ida Kaminska) running a sewing shop, he develops an unexpected friendship and quickly learns how dangerous life is becoming in his country for non-Slovaks.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Black Comedy
  • Eastern European Films
  • Jews
  • Nazis
  • Race Relations and Racism

Review:
Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos co-directed this Academy Award winning Best Foreign Language Film of 1965 — co-written with screenwriter Ladislav Grosman, and funded (as all films were at the time) by the Czechoslovakian central authorities — about the absurdity of war, politics, and discrimination (specifically Aryanization). By pairing a patently uninspiring, henpecked protagonist:

… with a hard-of-hearing, perpetually cheerful old widow (who in actuality is being supported by her Jewish community):

… we are clearly able to see the insanity of the social upheaval creeping across Europe. I haven’t seen another film quite like this one in terms of depicting the gradual realization of what it means to displace others for one’s own gain — something far too easy to do when life is hard and resources are challenging to come by.

Zdenek Liska’s haunting, other-worldly score (it comprised the first Czech movie soundtrack released in the U.S.) adds an entire other dimension to the story, which builds to a horrific yet somehow inevitable climax. This one shouldn’t be missed.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

  • Vladimír Novotný’s cinematography
  • Ida Kaminska as Mrs. Lautmann
  • Fine production design and sets
  • Zdenek Liska’s unique score

Must See?
Yes, as a powerful foreign film.

Categories

  • Foreign Gem

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

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One thought on “Shop on Main Street, The (1965)”

  1. Rewatch 4/9/19. A no-brainer must-see. A personal recommendation. As posted in ‘Film Junkie” (fb):

    “Maybe she doesn’t even know there’s a war.”

    ‘The Shop on Main Street’: Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film of 1965. In an odd, “Oh, by the way, we meant to let you know how good she is” exception to the rules… the following year, the film’s leading lady – Ida Kaminska – was nominated for Best Actress. …In occupied Czechoslovakia in 1942, the brother-in-law of a Nazi officer is granted the ‘favor’ of being put in charge of a modest shop run by an old Jewish widow. She doesn’t understand the new arrangement – nevertheless, the two become friends. Until….

    Simply put… one of the best films of the ’60s.

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