The story begins in 1942 in a small town in Slovakia. In the wake of the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, a separate Slovak state has been established. Its president fell in line with the Nazi’s race laws. The key regulation is the policy of “Aryanization”, kicking Jewish business owners out and transferring their property into “Aryan” hands to “de-Jew the economy”.
On a bright sunny day, a band is playing music in the park, and the townsfolk are enjoying a stroll in the fine weather. However, there are rumours that serious trouble is coming for the town’s Jewish community. Tono Brtko (Jozef Kroner), a carpenter and his nagging wife Evelina (Hana Slivkova). Tono is a regular guy who just wants to be left alone, but constantly getting it in the neck from his other half for not making enough money.
One evening they receive a visit from Evelina’s sister Ruzena (Elena Pappova) and her husband Markus (Frantisek Zvarik), who is town commander under the Nazis and enjoying the power and riches the role provides. Tono is resentful of his brother-in-law due to some previous family squabbles. After showering them with food and expensive presents, Markus assigned him as the “Aryan controller” of a small button shop on the main square, owned by an elderly Jewish widow, Mrs Lautmannova (Ida Kaminska).
It turns out the button business is bust; all the good Jewish businesses have already been handed out. The near-senile Mrs Lautmannova is living on the handouts from the Jewish community. Nevertheless, Tóno tells his wife that things are going well, and he’s offered a decent wage from Mrs Lautmannova’s benefactors to look after her.
Initially frustrated by his inability to communicate with her, Tono soon develops a bond with the old lady. He finds refuge from his overbearing wife at the shop, and enjoys being mothered. She enjoys the company and he likes pottering about the place, fixing up her antique furniture. Mrs Lautmannova is completely oblivious to the developments around her, even with Markus overseeing the construction of a nationalistic “Tower of Victory” right outside her shop.
The local authorities begin deporting the Jewish community. Tono tried to do the right thing and help Mrs Lautmannova. He opened the shop on the sabbath against her wishes to avoid drawing attention, but is increasingly afraid of being caught and punished as a “Jew-lover” like his friend.
Eventually the pressure grows for Tono. In a cruel twist of fate, when he and Mrs Lautmannova are offered a chance of reprieve by a Nazi admin error, he’s too frightened and lacks the presence of mind to take advantage of it. This last stretch is played out almost like a suspense thriller, with the roll call of Jewish family names on the town loudspeakers effectively acting as a ticking clock to the discovery of the amiable old lady.
A drunken, panicking Tono was hiding in the shop with an anguished Mrs Lautmannova. Tono accidentally kills Mrs Lautmannova while trying to keep her quiet, and, stricken with guilt, hangs himself. He closes the store and strings himself up from a hook in the ceiling. Then… the doors of the shop open, a heavenly light shine through and the pair, dressed up, dance away down the street to music.
In short, The Shop on Main Street is an almost perfect film, let down by a misjudged ending.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
