This film takes place during the final days of Communism in Czechoslovakia, at a time when the weakening Communist state was beginning to lose a hold on some aspects of society, such as the black market, rules about immigration and emigration, when many people were finding ways to undermine the power of a state whose strict rules could not provide the kind of order appropriate to the society. Your paper assignment (below) will ask you to look closely at the film and write about where and how you see nationalism, symbols of national identity, and conflicts over these emerging in everyday life, and influencing or even determining the lives of individuals. Do we see Czech nationalism as liberal, or illiberal? Is Kolya himself a kind of nationalist? Can children be held accountable as members of a nation (or outsiders to a nation), when considering the normative claims of nations for historical justice?
If you are not in Lubbock, you can rent the film from Amazon for a modest fee. You can also contact the TTU Library to request a copy of the film be mailed to you (this may take a couple of weeks, so plan ahead if you plan to use this). Or you can find a copy of the film (make sure it has subtitles!) from another local or university library, or any other source.
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