Probably never in history has the upbringing of children been such a controversial topic. A confusing number of educational directions fight for the attention of parents, which often approach the upbringing and education of children in the opposite way.
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We have a controversial, once predominantly strict authoritarian education, often with physical punishment, and in opposition a similarly controversial, completely uncontrolled free education without any punishments and restrictions, resulting in various forms of homeschooling, unschooling and other xschoolings. We have respectful parenting and lazy parenting, intuitive parenting and parenting read from an inexhaustible amount of educational literature, which in bookstores already has its own crowded shelves and entire departments.
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But none of us have any idea which of the educational directions is the right one. We follow emotion rather than reason. And we ourselves feel that the future of our children is just as unpredictable, whether they grow up like firewood in a forest or completely differently. However, extreme forms of education do not cease to fascinate us, because their actors seem so confident in their belief in their own truth that one must necessarily ask whether their path is not the best. Although he himself fundamentally disagrees with it.
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This is also the case with the documentary Every Minute of Life, which had its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary IFF on Saturday. Its author is Erika Hníková, who in her previous films has often looked at various marginal or tense moments in the lives of heroes. Whether it was a struggle with the ideal of female beauty in her feature debut Women for Currency, a single life in a Slovak village in the film Nesvatbov or preparations for a wedding in the documentary series ČTV Navždy svoj.
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Little Miško is raised according to the principles of Kameveda.
The protagonist of the new film is the Slovak couple of the Hanuliaks, who are raising their only son Mišek in the spirit of Kamevéd’s peculiar direction. It was developed by Pavel Zacha, a native of Meziříčí, who consistently led his son from birth to the set goal, which was his dream career in the NHL. He did so through his constant development, sports drill, all-round training.
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“You have to pay 100% attention to your child, limit your friends, hobbies and yourself, only in this way will you achieve the best results,” Zacha tells Hanuliak’s parents in the film. It should be added that Zacha junior really works in the NHL, which gives Zach an unquestionable authority in the field of similarly oriented parents.
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Even Hanuliak will decide to influence Mišek’s future success from the moment he looks out into the world. Respectively before that, the film begins with footage in which Mišek’s mother encourages kicking Miška already in the stomach. The years of hard work follow, in which there is no room for anything but Miška. The boy has a daily schedule planned from morning to evening, packed with versatile sports training, piano lessons, language lessons, a balanced diet and almost no space to relax. He thus gives phenomenal performances at a young age, in which other children in the same age category naturally lag behind him.
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His parents sacrifice all their time for him, accompanying him from training from morning to evening. Throughout the day, Miško does not have a moment in the film for free activities or acting, except for the obligatory afternoon sleep to gain strength. His mother speaks German consistently, although it is not her mother tongue, to be bilingual from the beginning, she has mastered the basics of English at the age of four.
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She couldn’t afford the other child, so Mišek’s mother suffocates the thought of another child.
The family does not slow down in their efforts even on vacation, where other tourists watch the family beach training in disbelief. The film is shot using an observational method, seemingly without the presence of the director, in carefully composed long shots, often acting more like a feature film. However, the director suffocates that there is nothing fiction. Hanuliak trains his son in a playful way, so he still enjoys all the training, despite his busy schedule, and there aren’t really many moments in which he would look tired, defiant or annoyed.
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Watching this tedious daily educational effort is nevertheless mentally exhausting. From many shots, the viewer is hopeless about how much little Miško does not have his life in his hands. When she peeks at her grandmother’s sweet dessert and ostentatiously recites her resistance to chocolate, she acts like a helpless little robot. Although he is obviously excited about spending time with his parents, the viewer cannot help but ask questions. How will Miško perceive the children’s drill retrospectively one in the future? How does childhood without “unnecessary” games and peers mark his adult life? And will he really succeed the way his parents planned?
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The film also gradually increases the silent exhaustion of Mišek’s mother, who is really with him 24 hours a day and spends a lot of time wandering between trainings. The thoughts of another child are then suffocated after she realizes that they would not be able to offer two children a similarly organized time with her husband.
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The film culminates in a Cambodian sports match, where Miško celebrates success. But looking into his tiny child’s face, questions remain about how his next career will develop.
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“According to a number of neurobiological studies, children at an early age need time for spontaneous uncontrolled play, they should not be constantly employed by a controlled program. Otherwise, they don’t have to learn to set up a meaningful life plan, to be themselves, “says psychotherapist Magdalena Koťová, noting that a similar drill can be counterproductive. At the same time, however, the therapist adds that the value orientation of the family also matters here. For example, if the individual’s freedom is high on your values, you can encourage the child to find for themselves what they enjoy, or you can determine for yourself what is worth striving for.
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Often, a similar way of raising or directing children is associated with the unfulfilled ambitions of parents, who place even greater ambitions in their children. Let us remember various competitions of children’s misses, drilling of small athletes known from Asian countries or other projects, the result of which is to be a future successful person.
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“I often meet people in a psychotherapeutic practice who only realize in middle age that they do not live their lives authentically, feel that they are mechanically performing tasks that they do not know where they came from, that they lived in the belief that things should be . Anxiety brings them into therapy and only then do they start looking for what makes sense to devote time and attention, or even for what they actually think, what their values, attitudes, opinions are, ”says Koťová.
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55th Karlovy Vary Film Festival
– The Karlovy Vary festival will take place this year after a two-year break caused by the covid. Last year, it was supposed to take place at least in the alternative autumn term, but in the end he had to wait for this summer for the next year, and moreover until the end of the holidays.
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– 127 feature and documentary films will be presented at this year’s festival. According to the organizers, it is approximately 25 films less than usual. Complete program HERE.
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– Due to the danger of covid, the organizers will release cinemas only with a special tape indicating their infectivity, they will also offer testing of visitors and even their own vaccination spot directly at the festival box offices – festival visitors will be able to be vaccinated with Janssen disposable vaccine without registration.
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