During the Nazi occupation of a Czech city civilians are being rounded up on the slightest of pretexts and shot. One day three high school boys who crack jokes about a recently deceased "hero of the Reich" are pulled out of school by the Gestapo.

The lives of 7 friends in a small Czech town from 1945 to some time after 1958.

Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s) 1969 Won Grand Prize Dusan Hanák A government official in Czechoslovakia mistakenly believes he has cancer. He reasons his involvement in clandestine activities during the Stalin administration have fated him to die from a dreaded disease. He searches for inner peace as he feels the guilt of his past transgressions. This film tied for the Grand Prize at the Mannheim Film Festival in 1969. Slovak director Dusan Hanak was one of Czech cinema's brightest and best talents of the '60s and '70s, but because of censorship this was not manifest until the late '80s. Dusan made an impact on the film world with his auspicious debut 322 (1969). Though banned until 1988, when it was finally released, it earned international acclaim and the Grand Prix award at the Mannheim Film Festival. Hanak's sophomore effort, the documentary Obrazy Stareho Sveta/Image of an Old World (completed in 1972), was also not released until 1988 and neither was his 1980 film Ja Milujem, Ty Milujes/I Love You, You Love. Only Hanak's 1976 film Ruzove Sny/Rose-Tinted Dreams passed muster with censors and saw a timely release.