As a cinematic quintessence of freedom aspirations in 1960s, the youthful maximalism and the voice of consciousness enable to place the rebellious heroes of Rolands Kalniņš’ film alongside with the world’s phenomena of cinematic new waves. Although in 1960s Latvia was part of the Soviet Union and it was separated from the rest of the world by an invisible but impenetrable iron curtain, the film Four White Shirts still is one of the few films made in Latvia that reflects cinematic trends of world cinema of the time. The time when the most significant films by Rolands Kalniņš’ were made, including also Four White Shirts was a dynamic period characterized by intensive creative search in the film history both in Europe as well as in the entire world. The French new wave triumphed in Europe at the time, and theorists call it the period of cinema modernism. Several films by Rolands Kalniņš’ harmoniously fit into the trend of radical quests characteristic of modernist aesthetics. Refusal from the classical film language, search for new forms, outspoken authorship, and non-conformity in contents and form – these are the modernist features characteristic also for the film Four White Shirts.

Rolands Kalniņš is a contemporary of the classics of West European modernism; he belongs to the same generation as Jean Luc Godard, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Ingmar Bergman, and they all worked in cinema at the same time only separated by the ideological and political iron curtain.

Despite the limited possibilities in those days for the Latvian director to follow fully the world’s film processes, Rolands Kalniņš’ films – in particular Four White Shirts – relate to the most avant-garde searches in European cinema of 1960s. There are many unifying elements: characters – outsiders, challenging personalities with their own system of values that clash with public norms; fragmentation and subjectivization of the film narrative, portrayal of the city scape, putting emphasis on realistic texture and elements of documentary film; framing that ignores the classical compositions and the use of mise-en-scene; specific principles of colour dramaturgy; open film endings and a desire to capture and immortalize real personalities of cultural scene of 60s.

Uldis Pūcītis – a manly and talented actor with the potential of an international film star, played his best role in Four White Shirts. Līga Liepiņa made her film debut with the role of Bella in this film – the bright and authentic discovery of cinema of Latvia in 1960s. Sondore‘s part is played by the experienced theatre actress Dina Kuple. Four White Shirts is also a unique documentary “portrait gallery“ of the cultural personalities of 1960s – small parts in it were played by theatre directors Arnolds Liniņš and Oļģerts Kroders, the composer Uldis Stabulnieks, a noticeable place is allocated in the films to the works of the artist Jāzeps Pīgoznis and to himself as well - he makes a brief appearance in the film. A significant role is played in the film by Imants Kalniņš’ music that has also influenced the film editing style; visual metaphoricity and images of Riga city that capture the spirit of 1960s are among other important features of the film. The literary source of the film is a play by Gunārs Priede The Thirteenth.