Movie: "Closely Watched Trains" (1966)

[Bob Pr.]

"Closely Watched Trains" (1966) B&W. In Czech (English subtitles) Unrated but probably R or PG-13 Plot & Genres, see below. Won Oscar as Best Foreign Flim
IMDb: 7.8 of 10: Closely Watched Trains (1966) - IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% of critics rate it "ripe": Ostre Sledované Vlaky (Closely Watched Trains) - Rotten Tomatoes
Roger Ebert: 3.5 of 4 stars: Closely Watched Trains :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

The year is 1944, during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Milos is a 19 year old apprentice RR station attendant who shares a mutually intense attraction with a young woman conductor on a local train that often passes through. In their first sexual encounter, Milos is chagrined at not performing as he'd like and the rest of the film follows his pursuit of trying to feel like a man. While he finally succeeds, it's not in the way we'd think. A very unusual mix of genres: comedy, drama, war, sex, coming of age.

(IMO, "CWT" has some sexual freedom on the part of the 2 young women that's not in keeping with the 1944 era but, putting that aside, it's both a cute and ultimately intense story.)

Like some other Czech films at this time, "CWT" lets Nazi Germans stand in 'allegorically' for the USSR/Russian domination then current.

My rating: 8 of 10