Closely Watched Trains

About Closely Watched Trains

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.

Closely Watched Trains is a 1966 comedy war film directed by Jiří Menzel. Its themes are sexual awakening, railroad, czech new wave, and czech resistance.

Václav Neckář appears as Trainee Milos Hrma, Jitka Scoffin as Conducteress Masa, Vladimír Valenta as Stationmaster Max, and Libuše Havelková as Max's wife. It runs 93 minutes and was released in November 1966.

The screenplay is by Bohumil Hrabal and Jiří Menzel. The film began as a novel. It streams on Criterion Channel and Klassiki in the United States.

The Tin Drum, The Cremator, and Bilitis make useful companions to Closely Watched Trains, all filed under coming of age and world war ii. TMDB voters put it at 7.2 out of 10 across 280 votes.