1973 film

A dramatic story from the end of WW II and a remarkable contemplation of the value of true friendship, meaning and purpose of life or the possibility to be human even in inhumane conditions. In a frosty mountain setting a cruel struggle for life takes place. After a fight, two partisans return to their brigade carrying along a young German soldier as a captive. But suddenly, amidst the hopelessness of barren mountains, all protagonists find themselves in a liminal existencial situation.

1961年嘎纳电影节金棕榈提名，斯洛伐克新浪潮的先声。 The May 1961 premiere of The Song of the Gray Dove (Piesen o sivom holubovi, 1960) directed by Stanislav Barabas (1924-1994) marked the start of filmmakers' use of ideologically unassailable themes (in this case, the Slovak National Uprising) to tell stories that were true-to-life and yet were filmed creatively. The Song of the Gray Dove rejected the narrative topics loved by Palo Bielik, who was the most creative member of the founding generation of filmmakers. By using boys as his heroes, Barabas was able to concentrate more on children’s fears, games, and happiness, which had not vanished even during the war years, rather than on reeducating viewers. Critics took notice of the film (it won the 1961 Czechoslovak Film Critics' Award together with the Czech film People Live Here Too [Vsude zijí lidé; dir. Jirí Hanibal and Stepán Skalsky, 1960) because of its intimate storytelling—six stories loosely connected by child-heroes—and its premise that children’s distorted reality can be more truthful than a so-called objective reconstruction of history. Critics also noted that the film was not without hope, despite its tragic ending.