I definitely went down the Czech New Wave rabbit hole, which I had warned that I would (also keeping in mind that I've already seen all these movies). A couple days ago I watched Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos's The Shop on Main Street again. I think this is the darkest of the Czech New Wave films I've seen so far, although it has some light and sweet moments. It focuses on the time during World War II when the Slovaks were Nazi supporters. In this way it sort of reminded me of Kobayashi's The Human Condition, and the desire of artists inside a country to not let the past slip away. Jozef Kroner plays Antonin "Tono" Brtko, who is given control over Rozalia Lautmannova's (beautifully played by Ida Kaminska) small button shop as part of the Nazi Aryanization program. Despite Tono's efforts to avoid doing harm, the system itself makes it impossible. As the Jews are being taken away, Tono tries one last time to save Razalia, but is unable, and in the end he cannot accept his role, although limited, in a regime committing such horrible atrocities. A brilliant film, and one that I can't recommend too highly.
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