Strictly monitored trains

A gem of humour, heroism and humanity, Trains Strictly Monitored (1965) takes us to a quiet railway station in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, in the final days of the war in Europe.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of arrivals and departures, icy platforms and noisy carriages and locomotives, the stationmaster's favourite pigeons flutter about, aeroplane wings cast shadows over the village rector's garden, the telegraph girl wins hearts, and Miloš Hrma dies of love for the beautiful Máša.

This shy young apprentice of the state railways – who inherited a hilarious family history, deliciously recounted by Hrabal, in which appears a grandfather who wanted to stop the German tanks through the power of hypnosis – also one day decides to defy the invaders, demonstrating that resistance sometimes dwells in men and places most unlikely.