Closely Watched Trains - Criterion Collection

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Jiri Menzel's funny, tragic 1966 film, set during the years of Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia, may be admired today more out of nostalgia than anything, but in fact it holds up very well as a wry satire from the years of the Czech New Wave. Vaclav Neckar stars as an unambitious youth whose chief preoccupation is a wish for sex, but who secondarily sees the draw of joining the organized Resistance movement. The latter, however, would require energy and focus, and Neckar's character--who does as little work as possible as an apprentice railway platform guard--prefers the inertia of his small-town depot. Spending his time observing the philandering of an older guard, keeping clear of his wild-eyed boss, and flirting with the female conductor of a passing train, the young hero has his priorities in order but must deal with an increasing responsibility to a larger rebellion. The film has a nice mix of rural lethargy, surreal hints, and comic knowingness about the landscape of teenage ambivalence. Finally, there is something else: the shock of a confrontation between dreams and real-world obligation, particularly in a world gone mad through no fault of one's own. --Tom Keogh

Description

At a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, a bumbling dispatcher's apprentice longs to liberate himself from his virginity. Oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him, this young man embarks on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of frustration, eroticism, and adventure within his sleepy backwater depot. Wry and tender, Academy Award®-winning Closely Watched Trains is a masterpiece of human observation and one of the best-loved films of the Czech New Wave.

Customer Reviews:

Very Nice.......2007-07-22

A very simple story about a young boy called Milos who is on the verge of breaking into adulthood and living through the usual adolescent problems. He lands a job a small train station in rural Czechoslovakia. The station is manned by a middle aged station master who spends his time feeding his flock of pigeons and wistfully helping his wife weave woolen sweaters. The station master's main train dispatcher Josef, who is a smart, but flirty Josef. Josef is a silent rebel, with a nonchalant air of defiance around him.
Josef takes Milos under his wings educating him about dispatching trains and the art of impressing girlfriends effortlessly. The story meanders around slowly. Josef disobeying the station master, romancing the countess and other women in the station (to the chagrin of the station master). Milos on the other hand is struggling with the usual adolescent problems whilst learning to send telegraph messages, dispatching trains and timidly attempting to date Jitka (a train conductress). His first date and first kiss doesn't go too well, so he attempts suicide and is then counseled by a rather stern area commander who believes that the Nazi forces (occupying and ruling Czechoslovakia at the time) will salvage them and show them the way.

Amidst and beneath this rather simple story is anther subtle, undercurrent story of Nazi occupation, their ideals and brutalities. Josef's nonchalance is a metaphor for the subterfuge & rebellion against the occupation. One day, the area commander visits the small station and tells them about an explosives-laden "closely watched train" that will pass by the station the following day. Josef immediately hatches plan to blow it up. Gorgeous Victoria brings a neatly packaged time-bomb (hinting at the efficient undercover rebel movement) and the unsuspecting Milos volunteers to plant it on the "closely watched train" with childlike innocence. The next day, the area commander arrives at the station just minutes before the train is supposed to and threatens to sabotage Josef's plan, but young Milos acts smartly, sneaks with the time-bomb, changes the train's track, scampers up the signal post and drops it on one of the train bogies. But, he loses his balance and falls on the train. Minutes later, bomb explodes with ferocious intensity & shaking everybody with a powerful shockwave. Josef relishes the stirred air, fellow villagers & townspeople seem contend and the area commander is stunned. Milos has (in his usual unsuspecting ways) become a martyr and graduated into adulthood.

The movie has been directed wonderfully. Two very different stories have been mixed with effortless ease. It is essentially a comedy movie with serious patriotic underpinnings. The cinematography is perfect. Here are some salient points:
1. Milos running after a slowly moving train whilst Jitka is waving at him from the last compartment. Milos can't keep up and fades into the distance.
2. Numerous shots of a passing train blow dust & sand as Milos gives it salute with full attention and the nonchalant Josef whispering something into his air with his cap sideways cap and disheveled hair.
3. Josef and others being swept away by the shockwave of the train explosion, holding onto their caps and smiling with utter content.

Oh, those randy Czechs!.......2007-04-01

The "Closely Watched Trains" are those that are carrying supplies to the German army in and through occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II. That is why they are closely watched--so that they run on time. But they are also closely watched by the people of Czechoslovakia, especially dispatcher Hubicka (Josef Somr) and his trainee Milos Hrma (Vaclav Neckar) for another reason, which will become apparent as the movie ends.

Not that Milos and Hubicka are especially diligent workers. On the contrary. What Hubicka is especially adept at is seduction of females while Milos is distracted by his worries about becoming a man. He has what must be seen as a problem demanding comic relief (if you will). He has trouble pleasing his girl friend because of premature ejaculation. He is so consumed by this embarrassing failure that he seeks quietus in the warm bath of a bordello. Meanwhile Hubicka is able to please the pretty young telegraphist Virginia Svata (Jitka Zelenohorska) by playing a kind of strip poker with her and rubber stamping her pretty legs and butt much to her delight and to the consternation of her mother when she finds out. The German Councilor Zednicek (Vlastimil Brodsky) who tolerates no hanky-panky when it comes to keeping the trains moving conducts an investigation and comes to the conclusion that Hubicka is guilty of misuse and abuse of the great German language because he stamped German words onto Virginia's body!

This is the tone of the film, wryly ironic, irreverent and mildly comedic, employing in a sense a kind of off-center "theater of the absurd" treatment. Director Jiri Menzel, who appears briefly in the film as Dr. Brabec who diagnoses Milos's "affliction," spun this off from a novel by Bohumil Hrabal, but it could easily have come from a novel by Jaroslav Hasek, who wrote the celebrated Czech classic, "The Good Soldier Svejk," so alike in treatment and tone are they, and so very characteristic of the Czech national mind-set vis-a-vis all the horrors of the European wars. Menzel concentrates on the petty affairs of day-to-day peasant life, sex, the raising of pigeons and geese, the boredom of bureaucratic jobs as he works toward the culminating scene in which the heroics seem almost light-hearted and to come about more from happenstance than from careful planning.

Some of the scenes in the movie are absolutely unique in the world of cinema and suggest a kind of cinematic genius. The creepy goose-stuffing (for foie gras pate) scene in which Milos seeks help with his "problem" from an older woman is riotous--or would be riotous if we were not so amazed as what she is doing while talking to him and what it LOOKS like she might be doing! The scene in which Stationmaster Lanska is torn between the prospect of seducing a voluptuous woman and the chance that he might miss supper reminded me of a little boy at play with his mother calling him home for dinner. The final scene in which it looks like Menzel may have employed a wind machine is just so perfectly presented, combining as it does the stark realism of the war and a delicious (but soon to be mixed) personal triumph of the resistence.

This is one of the classic films of all time. But prepare to put aside ordinary viewing habits and to concentrate with an alert mind. The subtleties of Menzel's little masterpiece will be obscured by inattention, preconceptions and faulty expectations. (Or at least that is what they'll tell you at film school.)

See this Oscar winner (Best Foreign Film, 1967) for Jiri Menzel who survived oppression and censorship by the Soviets and is still making movies.

Superb .......2006-07-17

Based on an outstanding short novel by the Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, Closely Watched Trains is probably the finest film of the Czech New Wave. The New Wave resulted from a period of experimentation that resulted from the liberalization of the Communist Party that produced the Prague Spring and was terminated by the Soviet invasion. The wit and humor with which Closely Watched Trains approaches Czech life during WWII was undoubtedly a major departure from the conventional party ideology. As commented by other reviewers, Closely Watched Trains is a witty sex comedy and ironic coming of age story. It is also a deeply ironic allegorical account of Czech history during WWII. Superbly filmed and acted.

A Funny Train from Somewhere Sad.......2006-06-15

A funny look at a dramatic world through the eyes of railway workers in a small town in wartime Czechoslovakia. I enjoyed watching this movie, it really is a hopeful and humorous story about human beings in times of turmoil. This is Czechoslovakia during World War II. The Nazis are officially in control, and actively imposing their bureaucracy on the nation. Our protagonist is young Milos Hrma, whose father is a retired railway man, and spends the day sitting at home, looking at his watch, and telling everyone where each train in now. He encourages his son to find employment at the local village railway depot.

Easily the youngest employee at the depot, Milos wants to fit in, be admired, be a man. He wears the uniform of a train dispatcher, but doesn't seem comfortable in it yet. While other reviewers have mentioned young Milos' talk of wanting to have sex, which is actually quite funny in its stark honesty, much can be lost in our descriptions. This is a comedy, not a prurient display. It seems that sex is simply the path Milos believes he must take to be a man. It is his naivety and honesty with his fellow railway employees that makes the whole deal such a riot. This self-created drama keeps his mind off of what is happening around him. Some may be offended by this, in which case I'd suggest you'd probably be happier buying a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD. Milos does show himself a man...and it has little to do with s-e-x. Very worth watching!

Some of the scenes are terrific--I liked the scene where Milos goes up to kiss the female conductor as the train is about to pull away and then...oh, I won't ruin it for you! It really is a funny film set in a heartbreaking time. All the more interesting that it was shot in 1966. Reccommended for comedy buffs and railway workers everywhere. I wish that sort of exitement happened on my train! :)

A different take on things..........2006-01-06

The most interesting aspect of Closely Watched Trains is the camera work behind it. The framing of this (black & white) film is most accomplished. For instance, you might see a distant frontal shot of something, then a medium shot---also head-on (and stationary), then an alternate side angle close-up of what the camera was drawing in on. Of course, the director does pan his camera at times & shots are tracked, but what's most noticable (and interesting) about this film are its multiple stilled shots at varying distances to convey space crossed. Likewise when characters talking to one another are filmed we aren't subjected to head shots of each in alternating succession---showing that only 2 camera were used, but are given a variety of responding shots which gives the impression of 3-5 cameras being employed (whether so many were actually or not, not being the point). In this sense it has the mood of an accomplished silent film, wherein the visuals convey most of the story by themselves (thanks to able direction). So, if you are a fan of filmmaking do give this film some of your time. Incidentially, the World War 2 aspect of this film is rather secondary to the human side of this story, which concerns the separate sex lives of a freshly recruited train station attendant named Milos Hrma & his superior; the latter being a ladies-man & the former rather clueless (being quite despondent about being so---which is effectively captured in stilled, varying angled, close-ups of this man). (05Dec) Cheers!

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