Closely Watched Trains

Juri Menzel, among other Czech film directors including Milos Forman, is a key contributor to the Czech New Wave. This new wave of art films comes in period after the French New Wave. These Czech directors, Menzel included, emulate the same urge to change as occurred in France several years prior. This newly found liberalization, which is largely influenced by the new lightening of control (namely less censorship) over the arts, begins in the mid-1950s. It is in this new wave of cinema that plots often contain strange, and dark humor. The films contain a distinct quirk about them, mostly because they write their many characters to have eccentric habits.

In Closely Watched Trains Menzel melds comedy with pathos. For young Milos it is a constant struggle with his sexuality. He’s confronted by his own physiological dysfunction, premature ejaculation, which he thinks prevents him from becoming a man. This film responds to the call for identity. At a time when the political system influences people to focus on the group, as opposed to the primary focus being the individual. Menzel turns the mirror back onto the people to reflect the many issues involved in daily life. Although the story surrounds the life of Milos, the main character, we’re introduced to a large number of characters. We are not only introduced to these characters but we also get a feel for their quirks; we begin to understand their habits, their interests, what makes the tick, etc.

The story never really becomes completely unordinary. And the plot never becomes unbelievable. However, when Milos goes to the brothel to commit suicide we finally get a glimpse of that mordant, and almost absurd humor. This melancholic humor resonates throughout many Czech films. Suicide in the youth culture also appears to be significant. In both Closely Watched Trains and in Forman’s Loves of a Blonde the main characters are both unsuccessful at committing suicide. Is this to suggest a suicide epidemic in society at the time? Or might this be referring to the generation as being lost, to the point where they cannot even control the extent of their own deaths. These Czech new wave films are particular about their content material, which limits them to a very dark but conspicuous humor that mimics the issues that are sad, and possibly embarrassing, but most of all they are real.