Jiri Menzel’s 1966 film Closely Watched Trains, with its plot that follows a young slacker’s daily routine and its extremely languid pace, at first seems to cast a lazily nostalgic eye toward WWII-era Czechoslovakia. However, during pivotal...

The film Closely Watched Trains is characterized by its humor primarily at the expense of Milos, a young guard at a train station in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia. The use of humor along with sexual experiences in the film provide insight into life...