FEATURE FILM / 1960

Smrť sa volá Engelchen

The television film based on the novel of the same name by Ladislav Mňaček draws on the period of World War II and the Slovak National Uprising. The film's story is composed of two intertwining time lines. In the images of the present that frame the entire narrative, the young partisan Voloďa - a hero with autobiographical features - recovers from a serious injury. In feverish reminiscences and in conversations with his nurse Eliška, he recapitulates the eventful events of his time in the partisan group in the village of Ploština, which the partisans abandoned under the pressure of events and left to the mercy of the German commando. Voloďa is haunted by visions of the burning Ploština, remorse and responsibility for the tragedy. In feverish reminiscences, he relives the meetings of the partisan detachment with the German commando. Memories of the mysterious Jewish girl Marta, a partisan liaison with whom Pavol had a passionate love affair, also return to him.