This is the “plot” of the Czech song Čekám na signál (Waiting for Signal) produced to promote the movie Signál the singer stars in. Note that neither the official music video’s color (movie) nor monochrome (singing) scenes really mirror that “plot” and the ending where they convince the priest to help with the installation is baked into the song as released for radio and CD.
🎵 Za zatáčkou u rybníka máme kutila
🎵 A Tom sváří, pájí, krájí, český ruce všechno znaj’
🎵 Do týdne tu stálo dílo hodno génia
🎵 Kam že tenhle skvělý přístroj daj’?
🎵 Připojme na kostel v naší vesnici
🎵 tuhletu prapodivnou krabici
🎵 Vyšlem signál na všechny družice,
🎵 ať rozšíříme obzory i hranice
🎵 Nikdo však u nás neměl tušení,
🎵 že globálně způsobíme rušení
🎵 Že způsobíme těžké časy, no co
🎵 Opět budem pěstovati klasy, no co
🎵 Tohle je vzkaz pro všechny kutily,
🎵 kde bychom byli, kdybyste nebyli
🎵 Vždyť vaše výtvory jsou báječné,
🎵 progresivní, ba i bezpečné
🎵 Osmý div světa byste stvořili,
🎵 kdyby však vodiče víc vodily
🎵 Dočkej času jako husa klasu,
🎵 zejtra tu bude stát i stroj času
This essentially boils down to: A village still living off the land in an otherwise digital era decides to modernize. A local DIY guy (we have the lovely word kutil for those, akin to German Bastler and used to describe people like Pat & Mat) builds a weird device in a week that can “contact all satellites”. The local church is assessed as of being of no use (we have a very low worshippers-to-medieval-churches ratio) and people strap the mysterious box to it. Upon powering up, it blows all electronics worldwide and causes everyone to live off the land but the village is oblivious because nothing changed for them.
This is very loosely inspired by the 2012 movie’s plot, the script of which was written about a decade prior and does not make sense in ~2007 when the movie is set (most people have cell phones there already, and we had more than 1 active SIM per capita).
Spoiler for a bad Czech movie you shouldn't watch sober anyway
Two 20-something boys get a van and some radio equipment and leave their city to fuck with a village in the middle of nowhere, pretending that they’re from a surveying agency to pick the optimal location for the region’s new 2G mast. Major telecoms would use this tower as a BTS and pay many euros in rent. Many people try to convince the boys that their plot should be chosen, using corruption, sex, underhanded tactics and other shenanigans. Meanwhile, a telecom sets up an actual mast atop the local castle ruins that overlook the village, blowing the dudes’ cover, and they have to flee with the expensive equipment they had borrowed.
I want to check that film out, thank you for the rec.
It reminds me of a Turkish film called vizyontele, where a similar village gets their first BW TV which pisses off the local cinemas owner and has a similar neurodivergent handyman (at least Tourettes)
In my country during the Communist era (1963), the first 100-ish TV owners in a tiny river valley town were pissed about bad reception. The Communists obviously didn’t want to appease the richest few but they allowed this to go through if the TV owners personally built the tower for free, mostly on Sunday mornings. Thus, the Alexandrovka lookout tower’s ruins were restored and heightened, the authorities basically just inspected the resulting structure and installed the repeater equipment. Source (Czech, obviously)
This is the “plot” of the Czech song Čekám na signál (Waiting for Signal) produced to promote the movie Signál the singer stars in. Note that neither the official music video’s color (movie) nor monochrome (singing) scenes really mirror that “plot” and the ending where they convince the priest to help with the installation is baked into the song as released for radio and CD.
This essentially boils down to: A village still living off the land in an otherwise digital era decides to modernize. A local DIY guy (we have the lovely word kutil for those, akin to German Bastler and used to describe people like Pat & Mat) builds a weird device in a week that can “contact all satellites”. The local church is assessed as of being of no use (we have a very low worshippers-to-medieval-churches ratio) and people strap the mysterious box to it. Upon powering up, it blows all electronics worldwide and causes everyone to live off the land but the village is oblivious because nothing changed for them.
This is very loosely inspired by the 2012 movie’s plot, the script of which was written about a decade prior and does not make sense in ~2007 when the movie is set (most people have cell phones there already, and we had more than 1 active SIM per capita).
Spoiler for a bad Czech movie you shouldn't watch sober anyway
Two 20-something boys get a van and some radio equipment and leave their city to fuck with a village in the middle of nowhere, pretending that they’re from a surveying agency to pick the optimal location for the region’s new 2G mast. Major telecoms would use this tower as a BTS and pay many euros in rent. Many people try to convince the boys that their plot should be chosen, using corruption, sex, underhanded tactics and other shenanigans. Meanwhile, a telecom sets up an actual mast atop the local castle ruins that overlook the village, blowing the dudes’ cover, and they have to flee with the expensive equipment they had borrowed.
I want to check that film out, thank you for the rec.
It reminds me of a Turkish film called vizyontele, where a similar village gets their first BW TV which pisses off the local cinemas owner and has a similar neurodivergent handyman (at least Tourettes)
In my country during the Communist era (1963), the first 100-ish TV owners in a tiny river valley town were pissed about bad reception. The Communists obviously didn’t want to appease the richest few but they allowed this to go through if the TV owners personally built the tower for free, mostly on Sunday mornings. Thus, the Alexandrovka lookout tower’s ruins were restored and heightened, the authorities basically just inspected the resulting structure and installed the repeater equipment. Source (Czech, obviously)