Ptitzi i hratki (1969) User Reviews

The film marks a new trend in the anti-fascist theme in Bulgarian cinema

[major · 10/10 · 24 September 2004]

This film falls into the poetic tradition of antifascist theme at the end of fifties, and the same time marks a new trend in its development - the stylization of the characters is pushed to the limit where it verges on the grotesque, the ideas are in the form of metaphors and the poetic and ironic intonations in the general atmosphere are intensified. The action takes place at the beginning of WWII. A group of young people fewer than twenty is brought to the fascist court in a small provincial town. Against the background of the town's middle-class indifference the young anti-fascists live through their first encounter with the police brutality. In this clash their abstract revolutionary ideas become their faith. The death of one of the boys erases traces of flippancy and personal ambition. The naive dreamers become real fighters. The flock of birds chased by well-trained greyhounds symbolizes this turning point in the consciousness of the characters.