Čas marných nadějí – Svejkovský Jiří (2010)

This Czech-language documentary recalls familiar facts while also presenting previously unpublished details about how television workers reported on political developments in 1968 and 1969. As one of the surviving active television participants of that period, the author draws on written records by his technical colleagues, his own archival documents, photographs and viewers’ correspondence to recall the often-forgotten, enthusiastic support that most ordinary people gave to the policy of socialism with a human face. After the violent Soviet occupation in August 1968, it became clear that people’s hopes for freedom would gradually but reliably be thwarted, not only by the occupiers but also by domestic collaborators. The documentary also recalls the views of some viewers and conservative Communists who threatened television editors with physical violence for their work, especially during the August days of the Soviet occupation and through the end of 1968. From the perspective of the newly won freedom after 1989, the conclusion asks whether the post-January 1968 development could have continued towards democracy without the violent military occupation, and whether Soviet generals pursued other aims besides eliminating the political development they regarded as dangerous in Czechoslovakia.