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The Medal

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Original title

Signum Laudis

Year

1980

Running time

84 min.

Country

Czechoslovakia

Director

Martin Hollý

Screenwriter

Jirí Krizan, Vladimír Kalina

Cast

Music

Zdenek Liska

Cinematography

Frantisek Uldrich

Producer

Filmové Studio Barrandov, Slovenská filmová tvorba Koliba (SFT)

Genre

Drama. War | I World War

Synopsis

SIGNUM LAUDIS starts at the end of WWI with Corporal Hoferik (Müller) and his squad pinned down in trenches by Russian artillery fire and machine guns. Given the mission to hold the trenches and recently coming into command by way of death of his superior officer, Hoferik orders the troops to their bayonets to charge the Russian line. With Hoferik securing the line, he then orders his troops to retreat while he covers them before retreating himself. While the battle is ongoing, military politics are shifting and a new General of Staff, Berger (Pracha?), plans his first act as an attempt to humiliate an old schoolmate, current General Gross (Lukavský) of the front lines. He enacts his revenge by issuing the Signum Laudis, a major medal of the Austro-Hungarian Empire only awarded to officers, to Corporal Hoferik for his deeds in the battle early that day. The day after Hoferik receives the medal, their headquarters are bombarded by Russian artillery and they soon begin to retreat, only to be encircled by the Russian army. General Berger orders the regiment to attack the Russians while commanders and a small unit led by Hoferik hide in the woods. The commanders eventually realize their army cannot live up to the idealism that they have seemingly personified in Hoferik, and decide that they must court martial him so they can surrender and save themselves.

Awards: 1980: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: Special Prize of the Jury

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