The Elementary School 1991

Shortly after World War II, in 1945–46, in a Prague suburb (the film was shot in Michle), the boy Eda Souček, Václav Jakoubek, attends a boys’ elementary school where the class displays a remarkable lack of discipline. After the class drives their teacher, Maxová, Daniela Kolářová, to a mental breakdown during one of her lessons, the schoolmaster has to implement strict measures. The headmaster Rudolf Hrušínský hires a new teacher, Igor Hnízdo Jan Tříska, a man famed as a war hero and eager to restore order.

Hnízdo immediately introduces corporal punishment, insisting that although such discipline is not normally permitted, the school has received a special exception from the Ministry of Education for this class. Whenever he is not satisfied with the boys’ behavior, he asks them to flex their arms and delivers a sting with a flexible switch on their palms. The routine is brutal yet orderly enough to make the class submission look like progress, and the boys begin to respond to his presence in a way that feels almost magnetic.

Despite his harsh methods, Hnízdo exerts a strange charm. The boys grow fond of him, drawn to his battlefield stories, his constant presence in a uniform, and the aura of authority he carries. Eda sees him as a stark contrast to his father, Fan Souček Zdeněk Svěrák, whom he regards as overly cowardly. The townspeople, including Eda’s mother, also respond to Hnízdo’s charisma, creating a complex tension between admiration and doubt about the man’s true character.

Yet the rumor mill never stops. Hnízdo’s reputation is clouded by accusations surrounding his past: he is described as a notorious womanizer with a particular weakness for high school girls. His war-hero status is questioned as he struggles to provide clear, verifiable details of his military service. There is even talk that his war role involved something as odd as guarding a herd of goats, a story some dismiss as a fabrication, while others fervently defend him and refuse to believe the gossip.

The tension escalates when a serious accusation arises: Hnízdo is alleged to have had a sexual relationship with 16-year-old twins who attend a nearby girls’ school. He is forced to leave, and the once-chaotic class rallies to support him, defending his character and demanding his return. Eventually the accusation is withdrawn, and Hnízdo is reinstated as their teacher. He addresses the crisis by arguing that the class’s support proves a baseline of trust, and that physical punishment is no longer necessary. In a symbolic act of closure, he takes his switch and breaks it in half, signaling a turn toward a new understanding between teacher and students.