Josef Hruby
We meet Veronica shortly before her high-school graduation exams. She lives with her mother, an alcoholic, and her mother's partner. One day when he is drunk, he chases Veronica to the roof of a house and falls off, killing himself. He was in debt as he was addicted to gambling. His creditor wants the money back and starts to threaten Veronica. Her mother will not protect her since she is always drunk. Thus, the young girl must leave home and hide far away. On her journey she meets many characters. Some of them are comic, others are rather tragicomic. And Veronica tries to find good people with whom she would feel comfortable and happy, thus giving her life meaning. - Czech film center
During WWII a youth deserts his country's army after a combat experience, but not before wounding his commanding officer with a knife in order to escape. The young man, now very emotionally distraught, dresses in women's clothes and eventually joins a passing gypsy caravan, who think him a young girl... as well as a kind of seer, or 'rawney'. In time, however, he regains some composure and becomes attracted to one of the gypsy girls, which only leads to problems within the gypsy band, especially when the wounded commanding officer finds him.
A story of a young student of medicine, who arrives in a small mountain village after being accused for carrying out illegal abortion. The film reflects the moral decline of the society, where stealing in secret and making compromises against one's beliefs make up mundane reality. The filmmakers went to perhaps the furthest possible limits in terms of allowed social criticism in the 1980s. The negative picture is enhanced by its rural setting, since the Slovak village had been traditionally associated with strict morals and conservative values.
Her mother dead, 18-year-old Vladka travels to a remote village in the dead of winter to find the father she has never met. The happiness of their initial meeting gives way to the daughter’s disappointment and concern over the hardworking man’s alcoholism.
