From a stylistic point of view, this film is out of place in Kachyƒa’s oeuvre. Playful, colourful, experimental and with a rapid montage, Kachyƒa here provides a tragi-comic image of the ups and downs in working-class Prague in the thirties. The shoemaker Bursik has become entangled in a helpless and moving fight with the huge and famous Czech shoe factory Bata. And that while he is having a hard time anyway, because his wife has died and left him to take care of three children. Ironically enough, his daughter gets a job working in one of the Bata shops. However his battle continues, one day he is unable to pay his taxes and the bailiff appears at the door to impound his household effects. To complicate matters, Bursik’s sons both fall in love with the same girl. When she gets pregnant, Bursik has even more worries. Yet reveals that this time is fondly remembered – not really surprising as the German invasion followed in 1939.
