The Rebels

This story of true love which was never meant to be is set in a small border town in 1968. On the dance floor of a typical dance party from the era we meet the school-leaver Tereza and her friends Bugyna, Julča and other pupils from the local secondary school. The band plays the biggest hits of the moment and couples start paring off… Tereza, who lives with her dad in a romantic pub by a lake outside the town, returns home on the local train supervised by the guard Douša (who plays a critical role in the story); she gets out at a station near the woods along with three strangely acting boys. Thus Šimon and Tereza, the main characters in the film, meet for the first time. Through them, Bugyna and Julča also befriend Bob and Eman, mates of Šimon. We witness a grand school-leaving party and subsequent dramatic events which reveal the true identity of the boys – military deserters seeking freedom beyond the frontiers of Socialist Czechoslovakia. The true nature of other characters are gradually unveiled and the whole story comes to a climax during a critical month of a critical year. This retro-musical set in the 1960s cleverly evokes the nostalgia and atmosphere of the time, by using the poetic appeal of the first Czech television clips, period costumes and the stylisation of certain studio scenes, excellent choreography and first-class performances.