evasion of duty and undermining of authority are sometimes held to epitomize characteristic Czech qualities: In its attitudes, if not its form, Closely Observed Trains is the Czech film that comes closest to the humour and satire of The Good Soldier Švejk, not least because it is prepared to include the reality of the war as a necessary aspect of its comic vision. The attack on ideological dogmatism, bureaucracy and anachronistic moral values undoubtedly strikes wider targets than the period of Nazi Occupation. However, it would be wrong to reduce the film to a coded reflection on contemporary Czech society: the attitudes and ideas derive from the same conditions that originally inspired Hašek. Insofar as these conditions recur, under the Nazi Occupation or elsewhere, the response will be the same. Awards and honors The film won several international awards: The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, awarded in 1968 for films released in 1967 The Grand Prize at the 1966 Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival A nomination for the 1968 BAFTA Awards for Best Film and Best Soundtrack A nomination for the 1968 DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures A nomination for the 1967 Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film See also Czechoslovak New Wave List of submissions to the 40th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film List of Czechoslovakia submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film References Notes Bibliography Hames, Peter. The Czechoslovak New Wave. Second Edition, 2005, London and New York, Wallflower Press. Škvorecký J. Jiří Menzel and the history of the «Closely watched trains». Boulder: East European Monographs, 1982 Further reading Menzel, Jiri & Hrabal, Bohumil (1971) Closely Observed Trains. (Modern Film Scripts.) London: Lorrimer External links Closely Watched Trains an essay by Richard Schickel at the Criterion Collection Closely Watched Trains on Criterion Channel 1966 films 1966 comedy-drama films 1960s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 1960s war comedy-drama films Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award winners Czech coming-of-age comedy-drama films 1960s Czech-language films Czech resistance to Nazi occupation in film Czech war comedy-drama films Czechoslovak black-and-white films Films based on works by Bohumil Hrabal Films directed by Jiří Menzel 1960s German-language films Rail transport films Czech World War II films Czechoslovak World War II films 1960s multilingual films Czech multilingual films Czechoslovak multilingual films German-language Czech films