1965 | Czechoslovakia | Fiction

Obchod na korze (The Shop on Main Street)

  • Slovak English 125 mins
  • Director | Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos
  • Writer | L. Grosman, Ján Kadár, Elmar Klos
  • Producer | Jordan Balurov, Jaromír Lukáš

STATUS: Released

This film is currently not available.   

An inept Slovak peasant is torn between greed and guilt when the Nazi-backed bosses of his town appoint him “Aryan controller” of an old Jewish widow’s button shop. Humor and tragedy fuse in this scathing exploration of one cowardly man’s complicity in the horrors of a totalitarian regime. Made near the height of Soviet oppression in Czechoslovakia, The Shop on Main Street features intense editing and camera work which won it the Academy Award™ for Best Foreign Film in 1965.

Drama War Holocaust Moral Classic
Film Organizations
The Criterion Collection
DISTRIBUTION