The Valley of the Bees

The Valley of the Bees is a 1967 Czechoslovak historical drama film directed by František Vláčil. The boy Ondřej grows to manhood in a harsh religious order, where, with a hint of homoerotic tension, a Teutonic knight and veteran of the crusades becomes his mentor. When Ondřej eventually flees this life to which he was forcibly consigned, settling in the castle of his childhood to marry his father’s young widow, it becomes clear that his unforgiving mentor is prepared to pursue him to the ends of the earth.