This film is one of the most popular pictures of Slovak cinema and relates the story about the legendary folk hero and brigand Juro Jánošík [1688-1713] and the social situation in Slovakia of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The first part talks about Jánošík's childhood, studies and return to his native village. In the second part Jánošík leaves for the hills, where he organizes his band of brigands and starts an anti-feudal resistance. The film concludes with Jánošík's execution.
Slovak movie is based on the novel by the prominent representative of Slovak prose František Hečka, who was in 1952 awarded the State Prize. The novel and the movie successfully capture the development of Slovak village after the liberation in 1945. The narrative is centred around the characters of the old Púplava, who after the liberation begins to organise a new village life, and his struggle for the construction of settlements Mrzáčky, burnt by the fascists. It is centred around the conflict, greatly reflecting the situation of the countryside at this time: the conflict between the rural poor and the rural rich. In the movie, a rich personal and emotional life of other heroes pulsate besides the main storyline. The movie ends with the final defeat of the reactionary forces by Communists in February 1948, taking over all power in the state of workers and peasants. - "The Wooden Village" is released in celebration of the 7th anniversary of the Communist February Victory.
A drama about Slovaks who emigrated before WW I. It is focused on the life of Ondrej Muranica. He emigrates to America because of the hard life that is partly caused by Hungarian landowners. His dreams and hopes for a happier life are destroyed by a disaster in the mines where he works. Ondrej is declared missing.Years later he returns to his home country and finds out his wife married his best friend.
Jánošík has been topic of many Slovak and Polish legends, books and films. According to the legend, he robbed nobles and gave the loot to the poor. The legend were also known in neighboring Silesia, the Margraviate of Moravia and later spread to the Kingdom of Bohemia. The actual robber had little to do with the modern legend, whose content partly reflects the ubiquitous folk myths of a hero taking from the rich and giving to the poor. However, the legend was also shaped in important ways by the activists and writers in the 19th century when Jánošík became the key highwayman character in stories that spread in the north counties of the Kingdom of Hungary (present Slovakia) and among the local Gorals and Polish tourists in the Podhale region north of the Tatras.
