Closely Watched Trains

Closely Watched Trains (Ostře sledované vlaky, 1966) — watch online on iFILM the Czech New Wave film directed by Jiří Menzel. Released at the peak of that movement's creative energy, it took home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film the following year.

Bohemia, 1944, Nazi occupation. A shy young apprentice named Miloš Hrma starts work at a quiet rural railway station and quickly discovers that adult life is more complicated than the timetables. His supervisor Hubička seems to have everything sorted — his shift and his love life alike — while Miloš fumbles through his first real feelings for the train conductress Máša. The war creeps in from the edges: partisan activity, German troop trains, orders from above. But Menzel never lets the darkness cancel the comedy, and the comedy never undercuts the stakes.

Based on Bohumil Hrabal's novella and starring Václav Neckář, the film treats its young hero with more warmth than irony — which is exactly what makes the ending land so hard. Stream Closely Watched Trains (1966) online on iFILM.