Known for Acting
Olga is a complex young woman desperate to break free from her unfeeling family and social conventions. With her Louise Brooks-like tomboyish looks she drags herself, chain-smoking, from one job to another until she appears to find her niche as a truck driver. Although she has female lovers she does not form a bond with any of them; instead she clashes, time and again, venting herself in wordless emotional outbursts and other behavioural extremes.
It all begins at Prague Airport, where American agents have brought Major Maisner, who has been expelled from the United States, in handcuffs. He returns to his place of work, the Central Police Academy, despite having been demoted to lieutenant for his "performance" and his position as academy commander having been taken over by the newly promoted Captain Hrubec. Maisner meets his former students, who now teach at the school. They all welcome him enthusiastically and receive gifts from him. While psychologist Kudláková, who is attracted to commanding types, has lost interest in the demoted Maisner and is now passionately in love with Hrubec, Boženka Vinklářová, who has broken up with the gypsy Štefan and now teaches dactyloscopy at the school, focuses her attention on him. Maisner recounts how he jumped off a skyscraper in America to defend himself against Simona Ptáčková's advances.
Stage mime Antoine Moreau is compelled by the Gestapo to put on a performance for the children of Terezin, a "model" concentration camp, to convince the Red Cross observers that the camp is truly what it seems. Reluctant at first, Moreau slowly learns the true nature of the camp, including the meaning of the "transports" on which people leave. With a world-class orchestra (made up of people interned in the camp) and a cast of children, Moreau stages a show to end all shows.
Wild Swine is actually an ironic name for the great search operation of Prague's criminologists, who in a tangle of criminal activity of various kinds were digging around like wild swine before they managed to solve a complicated case. The story takes place in a variety of social spheres, from the Roma people to the world of Prague prostitutes and bakshellers to prominent people.
Dramatic fates of people hidden behind a theatrical mask.
