Cinema
Closely Watched Trains
Ostře sledované vlaky
Jiří Menzel · 1966
Synopsis
In the last months of the war, in a small station in central Bohemia, young Miloš Hrma makes his debut as an apprentice railwayman. The coming defeat of Germany interests him less than women, and above all the loss of his virginity, which would open the way to the pretty conductor Máša; the stationmaster, the signalman Hubička and the others likewise prefer their private affairs to resistance, while the closely guarded ammunition trains go by.
Context
The film adapts the short story by Bohumil Hrabal published in 1965, for which the author wrote the screenplay with the director; it combined the real explosion of an ammunition train, in March 1945, near Stratov station, and the memories of Hrabal, a signalman at Kostomlaty as the war was ending. It was the filmmaker's first feature film. The lead role is played by the singer Václav Neckář, then twenty-three years old, and the cinematography is by Jaromír Šofr. Released on 18 November 1966, the film was restored and presented at Karlovy Vary in 2014.
Who it is for
Ninety-two minutes, in black and white, in Czech and German; a comedy that rejects the heroic tone of resistance films.
Prizes and reception
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1968; regarded as a major work of the Czechoslovak New Wave.