Das finnische Messer

The movie focuses mainly on two friends, Honza and Tonda. During a fight Honza seizes a knife from their opponent and stabs him while defending Tonda. In fact the opponent had been predominant all through the fight hitting them both very hard. To avoid punishment Honza and Tonda decide to escape to Poland. Their road trip first takes them through rural parts and later on to Prague.

What intrigues me about the movie is the way it deals with the question of personal guilt. First it shows the natural impulse of its two very young protagonists to simply run away. Yet the movie also illustrates that his deed places Honza apart from everyday life from the very start. How he is doomed to watch from the shadows at people going on with their common life. Another favourite is when they eat some poultry and Tonda is cutting the meat with a knife. Honza notices this and immediately stops eating though he surely must be hungry, because to him a knife means something else than a more or less innocent tool. So it becomes obvious that in some way there is no running away from your conscience, and I definitely love the ending.