let there be light and then there was light

However, Let There Be Light is, at its heart, a story about how sons perpetuate their fathers' mistakes by copying their patterns in relationships with their own sons and, in turn, how this eventually creates the incendiary and hateful atmosphere in society that brings scum to the top. And more important than the factual reality of the topic is Škop's straightforward but nuanced script, in which small details reveal much more about modern-day Slovak society than is explicitly shown. Those who have seen Jan Gebert's When the War Comes, a documentary about a real such organisation called Slovak Recruits, will have no problem recognising the story as ringing very true. Milan turns to a young priest (an appropriately irritating Daniel Fischer) only to learn that the church condones The Guard's acts even more than the local police. As he starts to investigate, pressuring his son, the family is threatened. So he goes to visit Peter's parents and learns that the boy told them he was raped on the day he committed suicide. After Sunday Mass, the Denišes go to visit Milan's tough, zealously religious father ( Ľubomír Paulovič), who mentions how the rule of the fascist Slovak puppet state during World War II was the only time the country had it good, and in addition humiliates his son for being too soft.īut Milan is a good man at heart, and maybe that is a problem – fascism gains momentum not because too many people are evil, but because too many good people do not act.

Meanwhile, we come to realise that the family is very religious, and that Milan himself has a collection of rifles and machine guns that he enjoys cleaning – but is trying to make sure the kids don't go anywhere near them.

But Adam denies he has any knowledge of what might have pushed his friend to take his own life. It turns out that both youths belong to the paramilitary organisation The Guard, in which they are trained to 'protect their family and homeland'.

Let there be light and then there was light