"What does socialism offer to a young person?" "Has the question upset you, is it such an awkward question?" "THE GREATEST WISH" "collaborated on the film" "Editing" " Production" "Photography" "Written and directed by" "What is your greatest wish in life?" "To live forever." " And yours?" " Well, something like that." "But you must have a wish too." "It all came true before you even said it?" "Almost." "From when I was small I wanted to be a skater, I love it." " Have you had a go at it?" " No." "I wanted to be a teacher from the word go, but because I had bad marks I didn't even try for it." "Then I wanted to work in a kindergarten," "I couldn't play any instruments, so I didn't go there either." "I'd like to be a motorcycle racer." "I don't really know." "I don't care." " Have you ever given it a thought?" " No, never." "It all came true before you said it?" "I have what I want and don't need anything more." "I'd like to be a singer." "I want to get back together with Karel." "Maybe it sounds ironic, a car." "I won't marry until I have one." "To own a car and set up a date for tomorrow." "No conscription, for lads not to have to join the army." "To be able to get whatever I want." "To be happy in life and find some pretty lass." "To finish my studies..." "without too much stress." "My wish?" "To be happy forever." " And what is happiness?" " To be successful in everything..." "Can't describe it, comes by itself." "My greatest wish is to pass the physics exam and just to be able to finish university." "I don't know." "To work in order to be of use to society, right?" " Isn't that a bit hackneyed?" " No." "I think that overall..." "I'll go in the army now and hope she'll wait and marry me later." "She is at the Teacher's University and hopes to finish her studies." " Will you wait?" " I will try." "My wish?" "Most of all to go to Paris." "I'd love to go to Paris." " An experience of a lifetime?" " I'd love to be able to see it." "To get a place at university and graduate." "To study as a sound engineer, get into films as a sound recordist." "That would be my great wish." "To be a sound recordist." "It's dreary remaining at home all the time." "When you work in a factory it's different." "To stay at home is like..." "wait and nought, it's nothing." "When I finish my apprenticeship I want to save as my dad died in September and I want to contribute some money to my mother." "At first she said we can talk to the lads but when she saw me she wanted to write home and straight off stopped me going out." "They say that discussions take place... that's true." " But talks about climbing..." " Or about foreign affairs." "Girls' interests here are such that they're bored by these discussions." "I'd prefer more boys here." "Even though I have a boy-friend..." "I'd like to travel abroad." "To Yugoslavia or Hungary." "And I want the best possible results in my final exams." " Excuse me?" " I'd like to pass my exams well then to have a happy life and be able to see some other country." " Which one?" " I don't know." " You don't know, it's all the same?" " It's all the same." "What do you imagine by the phrase "a happy life"?" "A good husband." "Doesn't have to have money but must love me." "My greatest wish is to marry early, end up in a big city, have a nice modern flat, visit theatres, go dancing, simply have a good time." " Do you believe it will come true?" " I kind of believe it." " Is it a boy or a girl?" " A wee boy." " A boy?" " How old is he?" " 2.5 months." " It's his birthday." " How old are you?" " Not quite seventeen." " A young age to have a baby." " Very young." " Did it upset your future plans?" " Not really." "Have you any great wish, lad?" "I want to be an engineer, attend the Technical College." " And then?" " Become a miners' gaffer." "A wish?" "Perhaps our theatre..." "Rehearsing "Satyricon" at work." "Our company doesn't support us." "I'd like to study at the Ostrava Tech School and then work here." "To have loads of cash, have a good time, and that will do." "A happy marriage above all." "I wish for a happy marriage and a happy life." "I hope for a better changing-room so we don't tangle so much 'cos when the second shift comes like now and we've come up on top, one ends up crawling over another and everything gets dirty in here." "Already complained to the unions..." "In the Youth Union only work counts, it's all centred on work." "I'm the Union's Chairman at the hostel and it's not going well." "I think the main cause is a lack of romanticism in the union." "If the union was more like scouting or something similar then the young people would be more keen." "I have no wishes." "I'm satisfied here." " I earn a fair bit." " How much?" " Around 2000." "You're both students with a small child." "What does that mean to you?" "Financial problems, study problems..." "We don't have a flat and cannot put the child into a creche." " Have you applied for a flat?" " We have." "A Housing Commission comrade came round telling us we lived well." "And if we're dissatisfied shouldn't have got married and had a kid." "We'll go and get sloshed down some pub." " To a pub?" " Yeah." " How often do you go to work?" " Rarely." "How do you spend your free time?" "Quite normally." "In the morning go to non-stop pics, say from 9.30 until noon, then my mates come and we find a place to sit." " You spend all afternoon there?" " No, just two or three hours before other friends arrive and go somewhere else with them." "Whoever has more cash we stick to." " It's boring but what else to do?" " How many of you are there?" "Quite a few." "Maybe a bird arrives and fancies it here, she'll bring a girlfriend and it multiplies like this." "How many of us?" "Really loads." "Some don't come regularly." "Regularly about twenty or thirty come here." "Apart from the non-stop cinema have you been to any other one?" " Cinema "Prague", all the same." " What about a full length feature?" "That has to be an occasion, like with a bird, not on your own." " What did you see the last time?" " Wasn't it that Fellini?" " Didn't see that one." " La Dolce Vita?" " That one neither." "Do you feel you are killing time or spending it fruitfully?" "I know I am killing time but what can I do?" " How old are you?" " I'll be eighteen." "I'm setting myself straight, working for two days already, not killing time so much as I kill it in the morning working." "Everyone says I'll see sense when I get older, so, I'm waiting." "I'm nearly 18, maybe it's coming." "Nothing bleeding happening though." " We're completing an opinion poll." " Thanks, you can kiss my arse!" "A proper piece of skirt, but has to be a bit of all right." "Kind?" "Doesn't have to be kind but has to be able to work hard." "Such a sweetie I wouldn't mind taking her to our place or hers..." "Of course she has to be decent." "What's Wenceslav Square for, or some streets hereabouts?" "You can always find a bird there." "I've no dad, that's clear, like, but my mum is a piece of gold." "How do you imagine such a lovely evening?" "In a bar with liquor and loads of beer." "My, my, stole two hundred crowns off me, no dosh for beer." " Where?" " In the non-stop pics." " From your pocket?" " No, had a helicopter up above." "Whole world would find out, turn out those spots." " Else I'll keep my mouth sealed." " You can put that away." "Put it away, I don't like such things." "If you want to show it on TV let them cut it out." "Stick it up your arse and you'll be OK." "This afternoon we'd spend it in the non-stop pics." "If you had three wishes..." "To have lots of money, lots of work and loads of beer." "Then he said we could go and get hold of some cash." " That he has to get a pawned watch." " So, you came to an agreement." "You settled as to where you'll go and the way you'll do it." "We agreed we'd find the nearest loo, by the Children's Island in Smíchov, and divide up in pairs, one pair from one side..." "Who made the decisions and who told you which entrance to use?" "Not sure I can say exactly." "It's possible that I said it." "He came up to Mašl, asked for cash, they beat him about the face, he started to scream so I grabbed him to stop him shouting, the other one went to close the door to stop him getting away." "On the spread a few crumbs of bread." "In a while two palms asunder worryingly zoom in like wonder, like butterflies which made up ties." "Like a breeze all too mellow will from whence in unison follow." "Maybe a thumb will linger, maybe a touch of one finger on your hands and mine." "Perchance we entwine." "Love keeps velvet slippers mustn't interfere with sleepers, mustn't upset the street nor flowerpots at your feet." "Love keeps a batiste handkerchief making sure no-one hears you weep." "I want to hold her hand for a long time like I am doing now." " Your wish?" " The same." "Love is an awfully wonderful thing." "It is just a bit more than friendship." "As long as friendship isn't something more than love." "It is a great friendship linked to other things." "For one thing, emotional and spiritual as well as physical..." "Simply, a really lovely relationship between two people." "You were two years old then when your parents divorced." " Who did you live with then?" " With mother." " You didn't attend school?" " No." " You played truant?" " Yes." " We went down the pub..." " How did your mother punish you?" "With beatings." "Well, not real smacks as she hasn't the strength." "How old were you when you had your first sexual intercourse?" " Fourteen." " Why did it take place just then?" "The young man demanded it or were you going out for some time?" " We were going out for some time." " How long had you seen each other?" "About a year." "We were celebrating my birthday in our flat." " Where was your mother?" " Mother was out." " How many of you were there?" " Twenty." "You have such a big flat for all of you to fit in?" "A room and a kitchen but they're pretty big." " What is your greatest wish?" " For mum to understand me more." "Otherwise I have no wishes." "Father drinks." "Well, why, difficult to say because..." "Can't say a word against my mother, but some women see other guys and then they start to argue..." "My most fervent wish is for my father to stop raising hell and that it becomes better at home." "I really fancy having a father." "Is there anybody in your life that truly hurt you?" "There is." "In what way?" " Somebody close or a stranger?" " Somebody all too close." "I'm not sure how to describe what he did to me." "The way that I now am." " Some boy?" " No, my stepfather." " Do you like children?" " Lots." " How many children do you want?" " Two." "What is necessary for a man and a woman to co-exist sexually?" "Can't say, really." "Because it's beyond you or you don't think it possible?" "For them to get on..." "I don't believe in it much." "Firstly, I'd want a motorbike because when one owns a machine everything is sweeter." "I am trying to find a lad with a motorbike as I want to have a look at Slovakia." "Taking on board the risk which could be tied to that?" " Alone with him on a bike?" " With that risk too." "I think even below-average folk can have a bike or a car but good natured are few and far between." "If I was choosing a husband I wouldn't pick some smart-arse." "I'd marry but I'm still a lad and switch from one to the other." "No modern woman enters into marriage as a virgin." "No point hanging on to just one lad, rather get to know a few." "Well, we're not buying a pig in a poke, are we?" "Wants something from a lass and she won't have any of it, so, he leaves her alone or like..." "Some say:" "She's unafraid, she goes with every Tom, Dick and Harry." "When the lads get to know they bad-mouth the girl, that she's a bitch or changes lads like socks." "When the lass isn't careful it's her own fault, right?" "She becomes pregnant, half- the-time not knowing with whom." "I don't know, it's hard..." "When I eventually get married it should feel at home the way it does at mum and dad's." "Everyone has something." "One this, the other that." "One wants something, another wants nought or has it already." "One wishes for a car and saves up, another has one and is skint." "One's in bother, another, the more he's in bother the less real bother affects him." "One makes do by ducking and weaving, another ducks and weaves in the nick." "One has cash to paste the wall, the other is always short of a bob." "One gets plastered and complains, one drinks ending under the table." "We have books, "militant" books yet with no spine." "Some have trodden a chosen path, others say to them, you gits..." "Everyone has something." "Or..." "You won't find a village without a pub." "You won't find a grave where the birds don't peck." "You won't find a cage which lacks freedom." "One is meant to believe in a thing one cannot see for oneself." "One learns from the Press, or books which are "recommended"" "yet cannot travel abroad to look for himself and check out how it looks for real and to make up his own opinion." "How would you see your travelling?" "I'd like to go to Italy, Greece or France." " Why dreams as to where, but how?" " I'd like to travel alone." "When it has the mark of the Youth Union, or something like that, most folk lose their trust as it's all about being mass-organised." "We have talked among us many times how negative all this is." "To travel with the Èedok travel agency is totally beyond us, nor would we enjoy it very much in any case." "The best way for me to travel here and abroad is hitch-hiking." "But not our organised hitch-hiking." "I don't fancy that much." "In the past you had a lovely sense of standing by the roadside, put a thumb out and waited for the driver to stop." "Simply that he feels something inside forcing him to stop." " You think that's gone?" " It seems kind of spoiled now." "With mates, with girlfriends." "We'd have a look at things which interest us, wouldn't have go where it was proscribed." "We can find our own amusement." "They resent that we take trips not bothering working for the union." "And they sleep in the wild as a result." "Most people who criticise "tramping"" "are small-minded in the right sense as they are unhappy with anyone living differently." "They will rant against "tramping" under any regime." "Under the First Republic as well as under Socialism." "I'd go "tramping", but not in an organised fashion." "Take a tent along if they allowed it, and wouldn't have to have my own car even, just walk there." "To be able to travel abroad alone the way foreigners come to us," "Italians, Austrians and others." " I'd like to visit Cuba." " Me to Italy." "To the seaside." "I am tempted by France." "Paris, Louvre..." "I want to go there something rotten - but alone." "To look at things I cannot see at home." "If the youth went abroad as they pleased, visited points of interest they considered fascinating, they would have a better frame of reference what's here and abroad." "They would be more critical as we have two types of uncritical folk." "Some say that it is all beautiful here and everywhere else bad, the others say the right opposite." "I imagine it as being simple." "Just take off and go somewhere." "Best way is to hitch-hike or if there was no other option in an organised way through the Youth Union or Èedok." " Just take off without money?" " There are still good folk around." " Where would you like to go to?" " France to begin with." "I haven't been there but I love that country." "I am learning French at school." "Simply it's an appealing country." "Well, a capitalist one but appealing nonetheless." "What do you say?" "I don't like when adults throw all young people into one bag." "When they see some lout they say that youth is rotten and shout at anybody who wears some modern clothing, or dances the twist a bit wilder - that he's just a hooligan." "Not sure, but I don't like politics getting into everything." ""Youth is taken care of, and wrapped in cotton wool, no cold wind must pass it by as enough surely is our suffering." "We fought for a better tomorrow so pick the fruits."" "When one sees something negative and says so, he becomes automatically ungrateful." "They struggle and know exactly what they struggle for." "Wanting to improve their conditions which cannot be improved any more as supposedly they are so good that they are perfect." "It's just not on because as soon as one says it publicly they point to one straight off:" ""Hey, he is against, he is a subversive element."" "It's understandable that everyone is afraid then." "Rather the four or five of us get together and even criticise, on the other hand, also point out positives of the regime and era." "Youth Union's meetings are formal with hackneyed phrases the norm." "The speakers should instead speak off the top of their heads." "If he knows what he wants to say he must be able to put it over." "One mustn't have it all written down and read it parrot-fashion." "That should be the rule at meetings and later it could be introduced higher, maybe into Parliament." "And one who fails to understand cannot contribute to the debate." "I dislike the way adults relate to us." "Adults keep banging on:" ""You're young, we'll leave everything to you in time, our living standards etc."" "We know the score regarding living standards, regarding our State." "Why not say to us: "Young'uns, it's crap but it will get better."" "Or: "Don't be silly."" "They all say: "You're almost grown-up, you'll be in charge."" "As soon as they say "almost adult" we take umbrage, as at 17, 18, we see all too well how things are around us." "I admit one cannot say the truth all the time." "You can't say it to some people as they'll be miserable." "But all of them could be truthful with us." "I have great many wishes." "Right now I have a wish just for myself:" "To own some horses and oil paints." "And then one big wish, a permanent one, not to be let down by folk and the world to function as I see it." " How do you see it?" " Communist, but in my own fashion." "For all to work with zest, for all to do as they wish." "For everything to look sweet, for everybody to love each other, not to steal toys and so on..." "Hand!" "Would it work?" "Useless!" " What is your greatest wish?" " To let go of me."