Synopsis

This is the first Czech-made feature film to reproduce the genocide, the only one officially recognised during the Second World War. A village named Lidice was made the scapegoat for the assassination of Reichsprotektor of the Nazi in 1941 and all the men and women were killed. The only survivor, Sima is not a heroic character the Czech propaganda would have portrayed. Rather than the abhorrence of destruction, the film conveys powerfully the guilt of survival - the unspeakable pain Sima bears when he knows the truth after release from prison. The loneliness to live by himself without belonging to anywhere is absolute; and the silence of the vanished is so complete that there is no means to escape from it, but the duty but to live on, even when life has lost its meaning.

故事簡介

1939年位於捷克的村莊，被納粹德國建立的所謂「保護國」统治。兩年後殺人無數的納粹首長被行刺後，希特勒下令滅村報復。事緣一對小情侶誤傳情書，令德軍懷疑村民包庇刺客，飛來橫禍，全村唯一倖存者是斯瑪。他因為大兒子未能體諒自己的婚外情，錯手殺死親子。一心希望出獄後家庭團聚，誰不知大禍臨頭。大難將至前的繃緊，集體屠殺的冷血行徑拍得扣人心弦，伴隨倖存者的絕對孤戚、自責和終生內疚，比死更難受。