War, death, and sexuality: The themes of Closely Watch Trains (1996) The 1966 Czechoslovakian film Closely Watched Trains reflects many features of European New Wave cinema, including its emphasis on comedy even when detailing the tragic aspects of human existence. It is set during the Nazi occupation of the country and features a young man named Milos Hrma who works as a train dispatcher. Milos is obsessed with a fellow train dispatcher named Masa, although his first sexual encounter with her ends as a disaster. After prematurely ejaculating, Milos attempts suicide by slitting his wrists but is counseled by a physician to find a more 'experienced' woman to initiate him into sexual matters. However, in his encounter with Zdeni-ka, Milos playfully 'stamps' her buttocks with an official seal which results in him being disciplined by his superiors. The absurdity of the 'trial' highlights the absurdity of bureaucratic governments in general. The film ends with Milos' death after being prompted to bomb a train by his friend (and the more sexually experienced) Hubi-ka and a female member of the resistance (who finally 'solved' his sexual problem). Sexual awakening, boldness, and also death are all united in the film, as is the frequently used cinematic sexual metaphor of a train being synonymous with sexual activity.

Milos is an unlikely hero: he is bumbling and incompetent throughout most of the film and is overly obsessed with his love life. Despite the fact that his country is under Nazi occupation, he is more interested in losing his virginity than actually fighting the Germans. Even his last, heroic gesture that takes his life but wins him the love of Masa is motivated by the fact that the 'experienced' freedom fighter Viktoria has initiated him into sexuality, not because he has suddenly become politically aware.

Milos functions more as an 'everyman' rather than as a hero in any sense of the word, despite the final shot of him blowing up the Nazi train. At the...

Working with trains is the family trade: just like his retired father, he has a relatively inconsequential occupation and life. His focus is extremely narrow and does not fully encompass the great historical moment of which he is a part. Most of his admiration is focused upon the train dispatcher Hubi-ka's sexual prowess. The film thus portrays how 'little people' like Milos become caught up in the sweep of history. The translation of the film's original Czech title Closely Watched Trains seems apt: Milos is so focused upon the minutiae of his own life he cannot see the bigger picture until the very end (although it is questionable if he ever really does, given his limited political vision for much of the film and the fact he seems to act more out of sexual confidence than calculated political will).
The film contrasts the ordinariness of the protagonists and their concerns with the larger sweep of history. For example, the stationmaster of the trains where Milos works keeps pigeons; Hubi-ka initially seems more concerned with bedding young women than he is with doing his job. Even the Nazis are portrayed less as evil than they are as foolishly invested in protocols and are unaware of the strength of the resistance and the tenuous nature of their own power. They are just as obsessed with their own self-importance as the suicidal Milos and Milos' absurd pride in his uniform.

The idea of a uniform conveying identity is very important to Milos. At the beginning of the film, he is praised by his mother for his attractive uniform. Although Milos actually has a relatively inconsequential position, he is made to feel significant because he has a uniform much like the Nazi soldiers or indeed any soldier during…