For the Health of a Worker

Paľo Bielik / Slovakia / 1942 / Czech Premiere / 9 min.

synopsis

Exemplary social care by the state for Slovak workers in a convalescent home, with a beautiful Slovak backdrop.

A social policy of a state that cares (albeit selectively) for its citizens: this is the leitmotif of Bielik’s medical film, For the Health of the Worker. The imposing Czechoslovak building in the functionalist style is presented here as a perfectly functioning machine. The camera peers insightfully into all corners of this fascinating microcosm which, in a few weeks “spits out” from its innards a healed workforce. The backdrop of the High Tatras gives it moral support.

biography

Paľo Bielik (1910–1983)
The most successful embodiment of Janosik to this day, also a founding figure of Slovak film directing activities – the author of Wolves’ Lairs and Captain Dabac decided to pursue a career as a director in 1942, after a few years of acting at the National Theatre. In Nástup, he made approximately a dozen documentaries, some of which already bear his dashing “boyish” writing style.