Based on the satirical novel by Jaroslav Hasek, The Adventures of the Good Warrior Schweik.

Josef Schweik, a Czech dog trader who had already been disqualified from the army as a uniform idiot, is again called into service as a cannonball during World War I. He was annoyed with bureaucrats, police, doctors, and clergy, and was "sold" from one officer to another, but the good-natured, talkative, and artless soldier Schwyk was still reluctant to approach the front line and, apparently, a sure death. However, the good soldier Schweik has an idea a little better than dying for the emperor ...