THE SHOP ON MAIN STREET (OBCHOD NA KORZE) Czech Literature in Czech Film

Wartime in the fascist Slovak state: although happy go lucky carpenter Jozef Kr6ner’s detested
brother-in-law gets him the supposedly cushy job of “Aryan controller” of Jewish widow Ida
Kaminska’s button shop, the oblivious old lady treats him as a simple assistant-but then the
deportation order comes down. “The most moving film about anti-Semitism” seen by Kenneth
Tynan, this moves from farce to Shakespearean tragedy, highlighted by Kr6ner’s overwhelming
performance and Polish stage star Kaminska’s Oscar-nominated one. The first ever Czechoslovak
film to win an Academy Award.