’The Shop on Main Street’ is magnificent. An unforgiving tale of moral dilemma told with intellect and compassion. This is one of the most moving films I have ever seen.
The shop on Main Street is the story of Tono Brtko, a down on his luck carpenter in a small town of Czechoslovakia. Set against the backdrop of post-invasion Europe, the town has embraced their new Nazi rule and left the ideology of old behind, in its place the Fascist Reich. Brother-in-Law to a ranking officer of the local military, Tono is gifted a Jewish store and given the title ‘Aryan Controller.’ Mistaken for a gift, Tono soon learns the party officials have already taken the best Jewish stores for themselves - and left him a crumbling mess. The owner of said crumbling mess? The beautiful Rozalia Lautmannová.
Rozalia is an elderly Jewish woman, showing many signs of dementia, throw in deafness to boot. Tono finds himself stuck with the frail and sweet Rozalia, a mind degenerated beyond the concept of Nazi’s or war itself. She cannot understand that Tono now owns her store, and so Tono plays along. He will be her employee. As the film develops Tono finds himself caught between two worlds, a faithful companion and friend to Rozalia, and his anti-semitic opportunistic wife. His wife is a sweet woman, caring and considerate, but so is Rozalia. Why one must hate blindly the other for her own benefit, Tono could not understand. Why anyone in his community would hate blindly a woman or man simply for their religion, Tono could not understand. So he turns to drink. Through his dealings with the Jewish community that protect and support Rozalia, he comes to understand his neighbours for their humanity, not their religion.
The weight of this new moral awakening comes to height at the end of the film, when, like all over Europe, the towns Jews are rounded up. Told to pack no more than 30kgs of their own goods, and forced out of town to labour camps. Tono must decide between protecting the older woman he’s come to love and respect, or to force her out into the streets to save his own life. But how can you rationalise with a woman who’s no concept of danger? Who’s no concept of war, no concept of Nazi’s? An impossible task, delivered to an ill-equipped man. For all intentions pure and good, Tono can be no ones saviour. Not even his own.
Serving as a thematic backdrop, the town is enthralled with the towering construction of a monument dedicated to their new fascist ideology. Tono first sees this tower as a missed opportunity, a missed chance to make income as a highly skilled carpenter. It is oppressive to Tono - a symbol of his own failures as a man. The next time we see the tower, Tono walks into the square as an ‘Ayran Controller',’ a business owner. He holds his head high and dons a pin stripped suit. He fashions himself Tono the businessman, no longer a symbol of his failure, the tower is just that - a tower. No more, no less. The third time we see this tower is after Tono’s transformation into a being of compassion. Yes, self serving, yes self interested - but with love in his heart for the community that serves him. Tono drinks to dull the pain within, his guilt for taking money from the Jewish community. With a crowd of proud fascist Czechs, he enters the town square as an officer lights the tower up for the first time. A symbol of the new order, to wealth and prosperity for the towns inhabitants, and a death spell for the towns Jews. Tono is mortified, he must save Rozalia. The tower comes to symbolise 3 major turning points in the characters transformation. This is one of the many ways the script and imagery of Tono is beautifully conceived.
You’d be hard pressed to find another film wherein the awakening and subsequent dilemma of a character has been crafted so well. This is punching with the best of them, a work of art.
Film-making note: Light is used to great affect in this film. Shot on a high contrast film, the directors and cinematographer meticulously craft long sequences wherein characters drop in and out of light and shadow at pertinent moments. Dilemma is a sliver of light in a darkened room. Emotional awakening is presented in bounds of light, overflowing and rich. (See the attached image.) Tono spends his time shifting between the shadow and the light throughout this film, and it’s no mistake.