Jiri Menzel's "Closely Watched Trains" - (By Michael Jon Stoil - 1974) - Movies - http://maxpages.com/czechcinema/5_Closely_Watched

Jiri Menzel is one of the youngest of the well-known Czech directors. His first full-length feature "Closely Watched Trains", is an adaptation of a short novel by the popular Czech author Bohumil Hrabal, who collaborated with Menzel on the screenplay for the film. Menzel was 27 years old when he completed "Closely Watched Trains"; he was only 29 when it became the first Czech film to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1968.
"Closely Watched Trains" is, in one sense, a sophisticated sex comedy. Set in a small town near Prague during the German occupation, it can be described as the adventures of a young man in search of an end to his virginity. In the course of this odyssey, the young man- Milos Hrma- has all kinds of misunderstandings with the older generation and frequent clashes with various officials.
In a prologue to the action of the film, Hrma underscores the rifts between the generations by describing his own family's reactions to the German occupation. His grandfather, a patriotic circus magician, is killed when he heroically tries to prevent the German tanks from entering Prague by hypnotizing the enemy tank drivers. Hrma's father, on the other hand, has ignored the occupation and continues to collect a pension awarded to him through an error by his railroad union. Hrma himself is pleased with the uniform supplied to him by the Germans as a station guard- a position assigned him by an all-pervasive bureaucracy- but is indifferent to the repetitive exhortations and propaganda voiced by his distant superiors.
During the first half of the film, the audience is introduced to a representative of these superiors- Zednicek, the quisling official. Zednicek first appears at the station (his entry 'is reminiscent of Lohengrin on the swan or Field Marshal Keitel entering the captured cities...') to explain 'the situation of our armies fighting for the freedom of the people of Europe, whether they appreciate it or not...' The railroad station staff, particularly the three younger members, ignore the lecture, but Hrma shows a grudging curiosity. The official responds gleefully to Hrma's questions by explaining the situation in detail, then retreats to explanation by slogan: 'When the final battle is being fought, never mind about your clothes; finery comes after the battle is won.' Finally exasperated by Hrma's repeated 'Why?', Zednicek angrily snaps, 'Because it is the Fuehrer's wish and that is enough!'
What Menzel has accomplished in this and similar scenes throughout the film is to comment on contemporary Czech society by disguising the contemporary aspects. For example, to illustrate the concept of 'ideological fatigue'- the rejection of constant propagandist harangues by the socialist population- Menzel transforms the Marxist propagandists into the quisling Zednicek. To criticize the drabness and austerity of modern Czechoslovakia, he has disguised the present conditions with images of wartime shortages and controls. Perhaps the alien presence in Czech society- the Russian influence- is represnted in the film by the despised Wehrmacht soldiers. This technique of hiding his criticisms gives Menzel great freedom to examine the various societal reactions to the young railroad guard's very human, very personal problem.
Disgusted with his inability to prove his manhood, Hrma decides to take his own life. The unsuccessful attempt brings him to the disapproving attention of railroad officials, who announce that he is suspect because of his family's anti-regime record and who threaten him with the charge of 'self-mutilation in order to avoid the duties of service for the protection of the Reich.' The station-manager blames Hrma's act on the selfishness of the younger generation and the decline of morality, complaining that Hrma has jeopardized his promotion to railroad inspector. The Church offers Hrma psychoanalysis. In the end, Hrma's search for sexual fulfillment leads him to join the partisans and to his subsequent death while destroying a German train. Some critics add that this ending is a challenge to the accepted stereotypes of the resistance, but these critics are too often the same ones who are blind to the deeper significance of the film as social commentary on modern Czechoslovakia.
In "Closely Watched Trains", more than in any other Czech film, the director has emphasized the theme that a society without human values has little interest in youth. Hrma is interested in his personal problem and wants the others around him to be sympathetic. Ideology is confusing to him and boring to the other young railroad workers, and the traditional values of patriotism, piety and respect for the nobility- all of which are frequently expressed by the station-manager- mean little or nothing to him. By concentrating on these aspects, "Closely Watched Trains" appears as a strong, thoughtful commentary on the problem of alienation among the young people in modern Eastern Europe.
(Copyright - Michael Jon Stoil)

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