Nearly 60 years after its original release, Long Live the Republic! (Ať žije republika) is reaching international audiences in high definition for the first time. British label Second Run has announced the world Blu-ray premiere of Karel Kachyňa’s 1965 film, a landmark work of Czech cinema that re-examines the final days of World War II through the perspective of a child. The region free Blu-ray is scheduled for release on March 16, 2026.
The release adds to a growing international reassessment of Czech and Czechoslovak films of the 1960s, many of which challenged official wartime narratives and ideological simplifications. While Long Live the Republic! has long been recognized domestically as a key work of the period, it has remained relatively inaccessible abroad, particularly in high-quality home video editions.
Directed by Kachyňa and written by Jan Procházka, the film is often cited as an early precursor to the Czech New Wave. Rather than focusing on battlefield heroics or clear moral divisions, it presents war as a confusing and often brutal experience filtered through the emotions, fears and fantasies of a 12-year-old boy living in a Moravian village as the front approaches in the spring of 1945.
A childhood view of war and its aftermath
Set in the village of Nesovice, Long Live the Republic! follows Oldřich Vařeka, a slight, anxious boy navigating the collapse of Nazi occupation and the arrival of Soviet forces. His world is shaped as much by domestic fear—an abusive and authoritarian father—as by the shifting political realities around him. German soldiers retreat, Soviet troops advance, and villagers quickly adapt, looting abandoned property and turning on neighbors accused of collaboration.
Kachyňa avoids simple contrasts between oppressors and liberators. Both German soldiers and Soviet troops are sources of danger and uncertainty in Olda’s eyes, tied less to ideology than to the threat they pose to his family’s livelihood. The boy’s desperate attempt to protect a horse entrusted to him by his father becomes a central symbol of responsibility imposed too early, with severe consequences.
The film balances harsh realism with moments of dreamlike subjectivity. Kachyňa’s reputation as a lyrical director is evident in sequences that drift into fantasy or memory, offering temporary refuge from violence and humiliation. Cinematographer Jaromír Šofr, making his feature debut, contributes to the film’s striking visual style, combining naturalistic detail with expressive compositions that emphasize the child’s isolation.
Casting also plays a key role. Non-professional actor Zdeněk Lstibůrek delivers a restrained and credible performance as Oldřich, reinforcing Kachyňa’s long-standing ability to work with child actors without sentimentality. The result is a film that questions moral authority and exposes hypocrisy at both familial and societal levels.
Blu-ray release and historical context
Second Run’s Blu-ray edition presents Long Live the Republic! from a new high-definition transfer created from the best surviving materials by the Czech National Film Archive. The release represents the film’s first appearance on Blu-ray anywhere in the world, expanding access beyond archival screenings and limited DVD editions.
Supplementary materials include a 1998 interview with Kachyňa recorded for the City Cinematheque, in which the director discusses the film’s origins and themes, as well as A Memory for the Present, a 1963 short film by Jan Němec reflecting on the legacy of World War II. The set also includes a booklet featuring new writing by film historian Peter Hames, providing additional context on Kachyňa’s work and the film’s place in Czechoslovak cinema.
Produced during a period of gradual liberalization in the 1960s, Long Live the Republic! marked a clear departure from earlier, more ideologically rigid war films. It followed Kachyňa’s own 1960 film Laundryboy (Práče), a more conventional wartime drama, and signaled a shift toward more critical, human-centered storytelling. The film has also circulated under the alternate title Me and Julina and the End of the Great War, underscoring its focus on subjective experience rather than national triumph.
For international viewers, the Blu-ray release offers an opportunity to engage with a formative work that complicates familiar narratives of liberation and victory. Seen today, Long Live the Republic! stands as a sobering reminder of how war reshapes moral boundaries—and how its consequences are often borne by those least equipped to understand them.