Screenwriter Šifra about Miki: I spoke with Černák for dozens of hours. Even the unbelievable scenes are real

There will be a second part

The film, which has been in cinemas in Slovakia since August 15, mainly shows the first half of the 1990s, when Černák started his business and criminal activities. The upcoming second part will focus on the more politically motivated crimes of the second half of the 1990s. Černák was sentenced to life in prison for six murders in 2009, and in 2019 he confessed to taking the lives of 16 people in the 1990s.

The film begins in the early 1990s, when Černák, a bus driver by profession, buys two buses and several trucks. He gradually begins to get rid of troublesome people, such as a bar owner who wanted to testify against his brother.

A kind of repetition in the film are the funerals: first Czernák buries his father, then his brother. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” The priest reads the same passage from the Bible a second time.

They also met during the pandemic

The character of Černák in the film was played by Milan Ondrík. “In Slovakia it is always said that we should talk about our dark past to learn lessons, but the present suggests that we are probably bad artists because we are unteachable. I am glad that the film resonates and that it will help us, for example, to take a step forward into our future,” said Ondrik.

The roles of other characters were played by Michal Kubovčík, Anna Javorková, Gregor Hološka and Rebeka Poláková.

Photo: TASR/Dano Veselský

Slovenský herec Milan Ondrík, ktorý stvárnil Mikuláša Černáka

Screenwriter Šifra said he was close to the subject because he grew up in Vernár, a village about ten kilometers from where Černák lived and was active. “I went to see him in person about six times, Milan Ondrík three times. We were in contact throughout the pandemic, it was dozens of hours of conversations with him,” said Sifra.

He added that everything unbelievable in the film is based on conversations with Černák, such as the scene where Černák returns from a meeting with his mistress and, while undressing in front of his wife, discovers that he is wearing women’s underwear.

The groundbreaking nineties

Producer Zuzana Mistríková said that they wanted to make the film accessible to the general public. She also presented the second part. “The film has a sequel that takes us to the darkest and most politically connected Mečiar period of the second half of the 1990s in Slovakia. We strongly feel that the 1990s laid the foundation for the problems that we as a society are still struggling with today,” Mistríková said. She added that in the first week the number of visitors in Slovak cinemas exceeded one hundred thousand.

Černák, who is serving his sentence in Leopoldov Prison, would like to see the film, but according to the filmmakers this is not yet possible. “But he will see it in time,” said Mistríková.

Černák expressed his regret in court

Earlier, Černák said he was ashamed of his dark past and wanted to testify in a number of trials. He also published a book in which he wrote about bribing police officers, prosecutors, judges and state officials and about the activities of his gang, which allegedly controlled a significant part of the Slovak underworld in the 1990s.

News server Novinky.cz reported that Černák, 55, filed a request for early release in May this year after serving 25 years in prison, but the hearing was postponed indefinitely.

See the May 2024 report on the fact that Cernak will still be waiting for his freedom.