The Natives

Valeria SchulczováRoman Olekšák
The Natives
Central Slovakia. Elementary School that goes back to the First Republic. A building with memory. Apart from the church, it is the only building in the village which the locals are proud of. The school in which a couple of notable natives studied. A monument was dedicated to one of them, and the village residents try to fend off the subversives wishing to destroy it. It is early evening, aerobics lesson is under way in the school gym. It is attended by a local lady to finally help fellow female villagers lose weight. Though the actual point is for them to have a refuge to plot and gossip. Violent explosion interrupts the evening. The startled women don’t know what it was to explode in the neighbourhood. Perhaps an aircraft crashed, or it was a gas to explode? What if a war broke out? It is not far to Ukraine after all! Residents from around the nearby explosion start to head for the gym. As do those who were stopped when the area was cordoned off. Tension rises, conspiracy theories abound, anti-government plots are schemed, animosity and hatred surface. Essentially though, widespread intolerance and attempts to impose one’s own truth loom as the leitmotif.
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes, no interval
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