Synopsis

In the dead of the night, near the Czech-Slovak border, two smugglers discover their truckload of illegal Indian immigrants have left a baby behind.

In a small Prague apartment, Frantisek or “Franta” (Jiri Machacek) and Miluska or “Mila” (Natasa Burger) dream of having a child, but Franta – on probation because of his soccer hooliganism past – is not allowed to adopt, and Mila is unable to conceive. After cashing in on her savings, Mila decides to buy a baby from a pawnshop that fronts a den of thieves and pickpockets.

Meanwhile, an unusual family reunion is taking place: Academy professor Otakar or “Oto” (Jan Triska) collapses while teaching, prompting his estranged son Martin (Petr Forman, son of director Milos) to return to Prague from Australia to see his father and his mother, Vera (Emilia Vasaryova), long separated from Oto whom she still pines for. Oto is now living with the beautiful and much younger Hana (Ingrid Timkova), who works in a refugee aid center helping immigrants to adjust to their new lives.

Director’s Statement

After the 1989 fall of the Communist regime, which my co-screenwriter Petr Jarchovsky and I experienced firsthand as students at the Prague Film Academy, life around us started to change dramatically.

It was easier for documentary filmmakers to reflect on the fast-moving changes taking place at that time, when reality was faster than feature film stories could keep up with. That’s probably why all our films prior to UP AND DOWN take place in the past. We looked for stories in bygone periods and found parallels to what we were going through, as in the historical drama Divided We Fall, or in the retro-comedy genre films Pupendo and Cosy Dens.

UP AND DOWN is our first contemporary film where we talk about life in the Czech Republic. We decided to tell the story of everyday people and to shoot in the streets we walk on every day. We even shot at the airport while it was in full operation!

We are fascinated by the power and simultaneous fragility of the world. We found a few stories, both local and universal: a child lost and sold, the re-union of old lovers, siblings who did not know of each other for twenty years, stories of forgiveness and hope, of aggression and humanity, stories of the Old World versus the New World. We decided to tell these stories with a sense of humor…. And the strangest thing is that, we did not have to invent that many things! Our characters are both heroes and victims of today’s globalized world, a world in which love and hate seem to roam so indiscriminately. — Jan Hrebejk

(Czech Republic, 2004; 108 min.; rated R, for language, sexual content and brief violence)