Closely Watched Trains

TITLE/YEAR:

Closely Watched Trains (1966)

DIRECTOR:

Jirí Menzel/Czechoslovakia/1938

BUDGET:

N/A

GROSS:

N/A

SYNOPSIS:

A young man becomes a train dispatcher apprentice. He has his first affair & ends up part of a small underground resistance.

NARRATIVE & VISUAL KEYWORDS:

Comedy, Stripper, Books, Pregnancy

CHARACTERIZATION & DIALOGUE:

Young Milos goes to work at a train station for a womanizing dispatcher. He soon has his first affair & when he isn’t able to perform, he becomes so despondent about it that he tries to kill himself. After recovering from his suicide attempt he goes back to the train station where he ends up joining an underground resistance against the German army where he becomes involved in planting a bomb on a German ammunitions train.

CAMERA/LIGHTING/EDITING TECHNIQUE:

The overall lighting seemed to be balanced to me. It really worked for the storyline as well helping to set the proper mood. The camera angles were great with a few POV shots to give emphasis to what a character was seeing or doing. The overall editing was good though I noticed one jump cut that I felt left me a little confused at first as I was unaware that the location had changed.

POLITICAL/SOCIAL COMMENTARY:

The movie seemed to really point out the Czechs dislike for the German army & a willingness to do what they could to thwart them. It also made some social statements about adolescence & how men behave around women & consequences for improper behavior.

HISTORICAL RELEVANCE/RECOGNITION:

Won an Oscar for best foreign language film & grand prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg Film festival. Nominated for BAFTA film award for best film & best soundtrack. Nominated for DGA Award for outstanding directorial achievement in motion pictures and nominated for golden globe for best foreign language foreign film.

NOTABLE COLLABORATION:

N/A

RANDOM FACT:

The “German” tank showed in the opening sequence is a Soviet SU-152 “tank killer” of WWII vintage.

1. None of the characters have much of a work ethic. Milos states right away that he joined the railroad so he wouldn’t have to do real work. The dispatcher seems to be more of a womanizer. Even the station manager seems more worried about material things & appearances of the station than anybody’s work ethics.

2.  I noticed a few symbols in the movie. There was the misuse of the German stamp indicating a dislike for the Germans. There was the uncle’s picture studio with the airplane prop which gets bombed by actual planes, kind of foreshadowing the event to come. Also there was the fact that after Milo failed to perform sexually he chose a bordello to try to end his life.

3. Milo does not seem to be in control of his destiny. He seems to come across most things by just being in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time. This leads to his being a part of the underground resistance as well as him getting kidnapped by the Germans. I did not notice much of a viewpoint about God. His character just seemed to be drifting along. Going with the flow of everybody else.

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 22 Jan. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com>.