MOVIE REVIEW : Tragicomedy Gets a Ride on ‘Trains’

The hero of “Closely Watched Trains” is Milos, a kid with the sad look of Buster Keaton and a hopeless air to match. He’s unnerved by everything--his sexually curious girlfriend, his woman-crazy co-worker, his new job as a railroad apprentice, his own family history.

Milos laughs just once in this milestone Czechoslovakian film, after an older woman relieves him of his virginity. It happens near the movie’s end and sets the scene for his most ennobling act, taking a stand against the Nazis who have overrun his homeland.

Winner of the 1966 Academy Award for best foreign film, “Closely Watched Trains” is an understated tragicomedy that established writer/director Jiri Menzel’s international reputation and drew attention to the so-called Czech “New Wave” in cinema, which included the likes of Milos Forman, Jan Nemec and Ivan Passer.

This coming-of-age movie, which will be shown at Golden West College tonight, succeeds in its low-key way because Milos (Vaclav Neckar) is such a likeably vulnerable character. We know he has more than the usual burdens to bear, from an overly sensitive nature to the reputation of his grandfather, a small-time hypnotist who tried to stop the Nazi tanks by willing them to turn back. They ran him over, leaving the family mortified.

Furthermore, Milos lacks ambition, only wanting to strut in his railroad uniform and “shirk as much work as possible.” He’s not prepared to take on the threat of the Nazis, until the moment stares him in the face. Then, he has to act.

The approach to all this could have been serious, but Menzel opts instead for a sort of farce with a very subdued tempo. The characters are drawn with naturalistic humor: Hubicka (Josef Somr) comes across like a dime-store Romeo, though there’s more to him than that; Milos’ boss (Vladimir Valenta) is an autocratic fool constantly worrying about the community’s immorality; and the Nazi flunky railroad inspector (Vlastimil Brodsky) babbles about the German Army’s superiority while trying to explain away its many retreats.

Against this comic backdrop, Menzel sets in motion an act of subversion (a plan to destroy a “closely watched train,” the Nazi code words for a munitions transport) that is matter-of-fact in its drama.

“Closely Watched Trains” by Jiri Menzel will be shown tonight at 7:30 in Golden West College’s Forum II theater, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach. Tickets: $3 and $3.50. Information: (714) 891-3991.