For a variety of reasons, not least of which was likely the sudden weather change from gorgeous to disgusting, we had a pretty small group in the house for the second feature of the new MovieNight season, but a lucky group it was!<\/p>\n
Made in Czechoslovakia in 1966 at the start of a period of discontent with Soviet rule (which would build into the “Prague Spring” two years later) Closely Watched Trains<\/em> is a masterpiece of cinematic excellence, which has no doubt influenced many filmmakers over the past (almost) fifty years. A first glance, it’s a gentle comedy about a boy turning into a man, set in a train station in Nazi-held territory during World War II. His co-workers are a hodge podge of entertaining characters, one of whom is a not-entirely-unlikeable womanizer, who tries to help the boy out. In the scene below he seduces (or is perhaps seduced by) another railway worker.<\/p>\n