Mikuláš Simko

Juraj Jakubisko's first feature film after a forced nine-year-long break is a story about an unconventional man, Jozef Matúš. He arrives to a small village in eastern Slovakia to settle down and start a family. He is ready to subordinate everything to his goal. It all starts with stealing building material and ends with him disregarding those close to him to a point where his ambitions are turning against him. Build a House, Plant a Tree is a viewer-friendly film with a plot resembling a western, including several attractive action sequences.

Slovak movie is based on the novel by the prominent representative of Slovak prose František Hečka, who was in 1952 awarded the State Prize. The novel and the movie successfully capture the development of Slovak village after the liberation in 1945. The narrative is centred around the characters of the old Púplava, who after the liberation begins to organise a new village life, and his struggle for the construction of settlements Mrzáčky, burnt by the fascists. It is centred around the conflict, greatly reflecting the situation of the countryside at this time: the conflict between the rural poor and the rural rich. In the movie, a rich personal and emotional life of other heroes pulsate besides the main storyline. The movie ends with the final defeat of the reactionary forces by Communists in February 1948, taking over all power in the state of workers and peasants. - "The Wooden Village" is released in celebration of the 7th anniversary of the Communist February Victory.