Ti, koyto si na nebeto is a film which leaves no viewer untouched. Voted as the best Bulgarian film for the period 1990-1993 by the Bulgarian Film Academy, it is set during communism in a dilapidated and shabby district of a Bulgarian town. It tells the sad story of an old Czech violin maker, Georg Henich (played by the famous Slovak actor Josef Kroner known for his role in the Czechoslovak Oscar-winning The Shop on the Main Street) and the dream of a boy to play the violin and be a friend of Henich.
The viewer is stricken by the poverty the family lives in and yet the child is able to see the beauty in life by playing the violin. There are so many moments of tenderness, goodness and kindness in the movie between him and the child that I must confess my eyes were wet many times. Josef Kroner has a marvelous presence with his representation of goodness, trying to convince the boy that as long as a person is good and helpful at heart, he is rich regardless of the cruel circumstances in life. He, himself, is the living example of this as the viewer can see by the greatness of his soul and the misery of his own home.
An interesting feature of the film is Kroner speaking Bulgarian with many words taken from the Czech language, yet understandable for any Bulgarian listening carefully.
This movie came out in Bulgaria in 1990, directly after the fall of communism, and I like to see it as a cry to remain human and sensitive to the others in a period where the people feared what was in store for them and in the same time hoped for a better future. This movie sums up the feeling of a whole nation in the hope of the boy and the quiet but restless legacy of the old generation, Henich in that case, not to lose ourselves.
Ti, koyto si na nebeto is a movie which can be seen only through the heart.
