Cheap The Shop On Main Street - Criterion Collection (DVD) (Ida Kaminska, Jozef Kroner) (Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Shop On Main Street - Criterion Collection

A story of the Holocaust and betrayal
"Obchod na korze" is a 1965 Czech film that tells about the persecution of the Jews during World War II in terms of a poignant odd couple. During the occupation, Tono Brtko (Jozef Kroner) is poor, but because he is Aryan his life is about to change. Tono is appointed the controller of a button shop owned by Rozalie Lautman (Ida Kaminska), a slightly deaf Jewish widow who does not really understand what is going on. In fact, she thinks Tono is looking for a job, and hires him. They forge a relationship, but then the Nazis declare it is time for the Jews to be shipped off. The march of the Jews to the trains stands in devastating contrast to an earlier seen in the film where these same people took a pleasant walk through the streets of their town on a Sunday afternoon. "The Shop on Main Street" is directed by Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos from a story by Ladislav Grosman and it reminds you that when Dante created the circle of Hell and the very bottom were Judas, Brutus and Cassius, and all those who had committed the ultimate sin of betrayal. This is an intimate film about the Holocaust, that is able to approach the subject in terms of personal responsiblity more than most films. It makes the argument that the greatest horror was not what awaited those who died in the death camps, but came instead when their friends and neighbors set them to the trains. A very sobering film.

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A Compelling Tragedy
It is important to understand that this is a Slovak film and a Slovak story, not a Czech one. The importance of the distinction lies in the fact that, while the Czech lands of Bohemia-Moravia were occupied by the Germans and ruled (with an iron fist) by the SS during the war, Slovakia remained a nominally independent Nazi puppet regime under a dictator named Tiso. The story of the main character is thus really the story of a struggle for the soul of that country during a time when a toxic mix of anti-semitism and nationalism led so many Slovaks to collaborate with the expulsion of the Jews from their land. Especially poignant is the way that the story highlights one of the most enduring social pathologies of that region of the world: petty envy, and the foolishness and outright evil that it leads to.

This movie is so good that it's often difficult to watch. I highly recommend it for anyone seeking some insight into that part of history.

A must-see companion film is the more recent Czech production, "Divided We Fall" (available on DVD), which portrays the story of a couple in a Czech village who have to pretend to be collaborators in order to cover the fact that they are hiding a Jew in their apartment. Although what the main characters do is ultimately heroic, the movie is honest enough not to portray them as noble, but as frightened people who feel trapped into a terrible moral dilemma. Unlike "The Shop on High Street," "Divided We Fall" exhibits the uniquely Czech characteristic of being tragic and funny at the same time.

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Heartbreaking
"The Shop on Main Street" tells the story of Tony Brtko (Jozef Kroner), assigned as the Aryan supervisor of a small shop run by Rozalie Lautman (Ida Kaminska), a doddering old lady whose mind is mostly gone and lives in a fog, seemingly unaware that World War II is raging around her. Tony, no sympahizer to the Nazi cause, takes on the duties begrudgingly, but becomes increasingly more involved as he realizes what fate will gradually meet Rozalie. Things reach a shattering conclusion at the climax, as Tony is met by her frustrating oblivion to the danger she is in.

Ida Kaminska has received most of the attention in regards to this film. Hollywood even recognized her with a Best Actress Academy Award nomination in 1966. But the standout for me was Jozef Kroner, playing a quiet, mostly lazy man who is forced against his will into the role of hero. Watching his performance is like watching a raw nerve. I had some slight problems with the director's obsession on comparing Tony to Christ (he's a carpenter, he repeatedly is shown having his feet bathed), but this is a minor complaint about a film that packs a tremendous emotional wallop. I defy anyone to forget the last painful, lingering image of the film (I won't give it away), that simultaneously comments on the world that is and laments the world that could be.

Grade: A