Award of Merit – “Idiot” (Slovakia)

Title: Idiot
Runtime: 19 min
Country: Slovakia
Director: Dušan Davidov
Placement: Award of Merit
Competition: March 31, 2020

Synopsis: The “Smiling Man”, our hero is, in fact, an “Idiot”. The topic of altruism, when a hero helps also at the cost of not being understood, and his help may be considered annoying, is as eternal as mankind itself. Our story does not take place in aristocratic chambers but rather in an office. The “Smiling Man” is a small officer in a small town who lives 150 years later than the prince (the prince Myshkin). While F. Dostoyevsky depicted altruism in human relationships, our hero lives to work. For him, work is everything, it is something like breathing. Work is his second nature, he doesn’t realise the fact that he is abused by his colleagues, he helps because everybody wants him to help; because he is asked for help.