Nebojsa (1989)

In a spinning room, country folk have gathered in late autumn. The old women comb wool and tell fairy tales. The conversation turns to the Kingdom of Roses, where the roses bloomed white in the morning, red at noon, and pink in the evening—until a wicked sorcerer came and wanted to marry the kingdom’s beautiful princess. As beautiful as the three-colored roses themselves, she refused the dark magician’s hand. He took revenge by turning the land into a desert and forcing the princess into an enchanted sleep. But they say the Rose Princess is allowed to look for a rescuer in the world once every seven years. That is where the old spinners’ tale ends. A young man joins them, tall and strong as a tree, and wonders at the story: Was nobody supposed to have done anything? Was nobody supposed to have helped the Rose Princess? He is Ondra, a young woodcutter. He looks out the window, and, as if his words were a magic spell, a storm breaks outside, with thunder and lightning. Lightning sets a tree on fire. Ondra rushes out, puts out the fire, and calms the horses. The farmers are amazed by Ondra’s fearlessness. His wise father thinks Ondra may be too fearless, almost foolhardy. They agree that Ondra should go out into the world to learn what fear is. The fearless Ondra sets out to learn how to be afraid. The ferryman and the merchant he meets are surprised by this intention. Robbers attack the merchant’s carriage, but Ondra deals with them as if it were a game. One of the robbers, the young, cheerful Ferko, realizes that Ondra is a strong man and hopes to benefit from him. The unlikely pair—the kindhearted Ondra and the cheerful, dim-witted Ferko—continue on their way. They come to an enchanted mill. Ondra helps the people free themselves from the haunting. The mill’s sorcerer resembles the evil sorcerer who is also holding the Rose Princess captive. Ondra becomes increasingly aware that his quest is for the princess of the Land of Roses. So he travels on with Ferko. They meet an old woman in a lonely, dilapidated hut. Ondra repairs the house and, in thanks, she advises him to keep the sun at his back as he searches for the Rose Princess. When the growing darkness means the sun can no longer guide him, he sees a girl’s face in the reflection of a pool: the image of the princess. There he is advised to keep going downhill from then on. Every mishap imaginable befalls the clumsy Ferko on the difficult journey, but Ondra always helps him. Then the two arrive in a poisoned landscape with a ruined castle, and Ondra fights his way out of the haunted castle with Ferko, alive. At last the two reach a dark city. Ondra asks an innkeeper for food, but, as the innkeeper says, “Nothing lives here and nothing dies here.” Dark monks play cards at a table, but they too answer none of his questions. Against the innkeeper’s advice, Ondra goes up to the city’s castle, from which no one has ever returned. Chests of gold are visible there, but Ondra has only one goal: to find the Rose Princess in the castle. He has no interest in the gold and does not even notice it. Ferko, however, gives in to his human greed, reaches for the gold, and turns to stone. Ondra grieves for Ferko, but he must continue searching for the princess. In the castle, Ondra finds a room with a fireplace. A life-size portrait of his princess hangs on the wall. However, the beautiful woman in the portrait is shrouded in black. By magic, Ondra is provided with food and drink and a bed for the night in the castle room, and he learns that he must hold out there for three nights while evil forces torment him terribly. He must not give in or leave the room. On the first night, knives fly past the fearless Ondra’s ears. On the second, the evil sorcerer tries to drive him out with fire. On the third, boulders fall from the ceiling, and Ondra struggles not to be turned to stone. After each night he survives, it is as if a magical lock falls away from the princess’s portrait, and her clothes grow lighter in color. When Ondra lies unconscious, the princess, who briefly steps out of the portrait three times, heals his wounds with a magic ointment. After the third night, Ondra has overcome the evil. Only a white rose remains in the portrait. When Ondra steps outside, everything has changed. The sun is shining, girls run through a beautiful, flowering castle garden and free the people who have been turned to stone. Ferko is freed too. Food and drink are plentiful. Then the princess comes down the castle steps and sees Ondra, standing there exhausted from all the fighting, in his dirty rags. They run into each other’s arms. Later, when Ondra’s father is invited to the wedding and asks Ondra whether he now knows fear, Ondra and his princess stand thoughtfully. Ondra answers his father’s question in the affirmative, because love is bound up with fear, and he loves his princess, just as she loves him. They have worried about each other, and no feeling could entirely drive away this fear born of love. Overjoyed that they have overcome the dangers, they declare their love for one another.