Ostre sledované vlaky (1966)

Director:

Jirí Menzel

Writers:

Bohumil Hrabal (novel) and
Bohumil Hrabal (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 November 1966 (Czechoslovakia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | War

Plot:

A young man follows his father's footsteps and joins the railway company, where he learns the job and has his first affair...

Plot Keywords:

German | Czechoslovakia | Train | Apprentice | Resistance

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Václav Neckár	...	Milos Hrma
Josef Somr	...	Hubicka
Vlastimil Brodský	...	Zednicek
Vladimír Valenta	...	Max
Alois Vachek	...	Novak
Ferdinand Kruta	...	Uncle Noneman
Jitka Scoffin	...	Masa (as Jitka Bendová)
Jitka Zelenohorská	...	Zdenka
Nada Urbánková	...	Victoria Freie
Libuse Havelková	...	Max's wife
Kveta Fialová	...	The countess
Pavla Marsálková	...	Mother
Milada Jezková	...	Zdenka's mother
Zuzana Minichova
Václav Fiser	...	Plasterer (as V. Fiser)

Also Known As:

Closely Observed Trains (UK)
Closely Watched Trains (USA)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Language:

Czech | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

UK:15 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Lodenice, Czech Republic

Company:

Filmové Studio Barrandov

Trivia:

In the opening sequence, the "German" tank shown during the anecdote about Janos' grandfather is a Soviet SU-152 "tank killer" of WWII vintage.

Goofs:

Continuity: The blanket covering the stamped girl changes between shots.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Get Smart: Closely Watched Planes (#4.3)" (1968)

Train Station at the End

This film adds a quirky resonance to the history of Neo-Freudian interpretation of human sexual psychology in film that rivals Bertolucci's "The Conformist". Gorgeously filmed in black and white, each frame by frame echoes of a past when life was still mired in concealment and innocence. The story centers around a train station in a Czech, German occupied small town and an apprentice train watcher, Milos Hrma, who is confused about his place in the world. He is a young man and is approaching an instance in his life when sexuality is flourishing all around him and yet he can not comprehend it. Scattered throughout the film are leitmotifs that represent sex: the train blowing steam, a horse with a woman riding it, a skinless rabbit being fondled by a woman cook, etc. He is under the tutelage of a train dispatcher who seems a zealot when it comes to seducing women. Although he notices that the train dispatcher is a sex fiend, he does little to elicit help from him. The general thought of the males is that a young man should be bestowed with the foreknowledge and insight at birth. Thus, his inability to perform when his girlfriend Masa is in bed during a bombing causes him great existential crisis and leads to his attempted suicide. In fact, the war was subliminally to blame for his impotence. This isn't a political film but uses subtle innuendos to trace the history of a young man into adulthood. Scattered throughout the film are affable characters such as a pigeon loving, crap covered Train master, a noble, aristocratic woman, a benign, slightly insane, photographer uncle of Masa, and a Nazi ideologue who refuses to believe that the Reich is in ruins. The sexual metaphors are spread in gusty humorous episodes such as when the train dispatcher 'stamps' a girl's buttocks in a moment of ecstasy. In the finale, the boy is finally cured of his 'impotence' by a big bang, I won't give it away, you'll have to see this delightful film.