The Hedgehogs' War (1979)

'The Hedgehogs' are a group of youngsters who are trying to gain control of the empty space between the blocks of flats, which they want to convert into a basketball court. The resistance of the neighbors is soon overcome and the court is laid down. Training courses in basketball for kids are set up. The ambitious coach is selecting only those of the boys who are able to carry out his most absurd orders. Two of them happen to be late, so he immediately fires them from the team. Thus the 'hedgehogs' war' against the indifference of the adult breaks out. The boys do not give up readily. They win the war through inventiveness, wit and with the help of the 'good guys' among the adults. But presently a rude pushy neighbor, who has no other concern but the safety of his expensive Ford car, returns from abroad. He wants to build a garage for his beloved car on the place taken up by the basketball court. A garage or a playground - this argument arises from the long-standing conflict between the pragmatic and artistic human spirits, between the lack-lustre world of philistine and the carefree world of the child. While the truck is unloading bricks and sand onto the court, the children are complaining (with some justice) to various administrative bodies. Eventually the hedgehogs lose the battle, but not the war. They are given another playground, but what is more, in their conflict with the adults they have acquired some of their ways, and learned how to load the dice.