 Several American reviewers saw a distinct similarity between Mihăileanu's filmic yarn and the mood and humor found in the writings of Isaac Bashevis Singer or Sholem Aleichem.Many reviewers made favorable comparisons to both Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 version or Mel Brooks's 1983 version of "To Be Or Not To Be" (citing the same clever wit), positive and negative comparisons to Brooks's 1968 "The Producers" (calling it either better, worse, or "just as bad" as Brooks's farce), or negatively compared the oftentimes more buffoonish than scary Nazis in the film to the TV series "Hogan's Heroes".Among other American and international awards, "Train of Life" won both the "FIPRESCI Prize for Best First Feature" and the "Anicaflash Prize" at the 55th Venice International Film Festival, the "World Cinema Audience Award