Closely Watched Trains (Ostře Sledované Vlaky)

Dir. Jîrî Menzel, Czechoslovakia, 1966. 92
Curated by Joe McFarlane

Summary

One of the best-loved films of the Czech New Wave follows the story of a bumbling dispatcher’s apprentice at a village railway station in occupied Czechoslovakia, who longs to liberate himself from his virginity.

A classic of the Czechoslovak New Wave, Jiří Menzel’s Oscar-winning directorial debut presents an absurd, comedic depiction of youth under occupation.

Set against the backdrop of rural, Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Closely Watched Trains follows Milos (Vaclav Neckar), a young apprentice train dispatcher, as he struggles to navigate his sexual insecurities alongside the stark realities of life during World War II.

Through the film’s weaving of coming-of-age narratives with grander acts of rebellion, Closely Watched Trains presents a tender portrait of adolescence, in all its frailty, anchored simultaneously in the banality of the everyday and in the most trying of circumstances.

Updating the Czech archetype of The Good Soldier Švejk, Menzel’s film serves as a deeply humanistic portrayal of the anxieties of growing up, which manages to simultaneously feel quotidian and singularly Czech.

Content notes: death, war violence, sexual content, nudity, suicide attempt

Wheelchair accessible | English subtitles | Pay-what-you-can tickets (£2–12)

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Citymoves Dance Agency SCIO, Shoe Lane, Aberdeen, United Kingdom