Bitva o život

A year in the life of the remote village of Bystra in the Orlice Mountains, Czech Republic. Current happenings are juxtaposed with recreations and reminiscences of village history. Each of the events has been recorded through the subjectivity of a number of people, using records from community chronicles read by the villagers themselves, as well as contemporary amateur footage. Thus we become witnesses to everyday events and a variety of celebrations - a performance by a local group of practical jokers, a New Year's Eve pub party, a fireman's funeral, a pyjama ball, a parody of a May Day parade, and the reconstruction of a battle which took place during World War II. The history of Bystra and the entire once-prosperous region (which today suffers from unemployment) is created from the participants' memories which are either coloured by subjectivity or have taken on the form of local legends. (Verleiher-Text)