The Call of the Wild

The story of school-aged boys with problem behavior – from a hard going family, the possibility of institutional care hangs over their heads. “I don’t eat bought chocolate because I don’t like it. One that’s stolen is sort of better. Everything stolen’s better,” explains 12-year-old Michal to the film’s director. He spends all of his time with his younger brother, Karel, and they already have quite a number of scrapes behind them. They have no other friends and at home everything is resolved through yelling and beatings. The boys are known as the “two small thugs” in their town. In telling their story, the filmmaker becomes a fixed point for them. Thanks to the established mutual trust, she learns how the children experience and interpret the world. The young gangsters, whose eyes radiate cleverness, have thus far not had many chances to develop the good they have inside. (One World)