Closely Watched Trains

The best-known film to come out of Czechoslovakia in the period of the Prague Spring, Jiri Menzel's "Closely Watched Trains" even won the Oscar for best foreign film. The plot is a slice of life from a small Czech village in the middle of WWII, and focuses on Milos, a young apprentice conductor who is mostly interested in sex. Characteristically Czech, "Closely Watched Trains" deals with freedom, internal and external, and the ways to achieve it. It's ironic and conciliatory tone, and the collection of eccentric characters, make it a gem of a film, one that has influenced filmmakers from Krzysztof Kieslowski to Lars von Trier.