Quick recap:  A young man wants to lose his virginity but his inadequacy to perform is an issue. And also Hitler. Hitler ruins everything.

Not sure why the girls weren’t all over him 😦

Fun (?)fact: According to IMDb, “Iva Janzurová turned down the part of Zdenicka Svatá, eventually played by Jitka Zelenohorská.”

MIND. BLOWN.

This stamp scene. Oh my.

My thoughts: I thought France’s portrayal of teenagers took the ‘wtf’ cake, what with their sexual fluidity and sleeping with their mothers, but NO, Czechoslovakia has to burst in and ruin the whole thing for everyone. This is why we can’t have nice things, you guys.

Although the setting and characters are a little odd (Milos is an apprentice train conductor during World War II), the story itself is very relatable. Basically, Milos wants to get laid and even has a girl (Masa) who practically strips every time she sees him, but he doesn’t really want to make the effort to go through with it. Instead, he spends his time lamenting over how horrible life is, which is actually pretty accurate for teens these days. When he finally gets the chance to sleep with Masa, he orgasms early and both of them treat it like the world has just ended and Milos might as well go kill himself for sucking so badly. Which he does. But then a doctor tells him that premature ejaculation isn’t a big deal and he needs a ‘more experienced woman’ to help him out. As dramatic as Milos was (he definitely would’ve fit in at Degrassi), I liked him and wanted him to reach his goal. He does finally find a woman to help him out and everything is groovy. Masa even returns and forgives him and wants to try and sleep with him again.  Happy ending, right? And all totally relatable up until the point that Milos gets shot dead by Germans and his body carried off on a train, which subsequently explodes.

So, besides the ending, most of the movie was pretty funny. The other people working at the train station are bumbling idiots that try to help Milos by giving him advice, but who ultimately fail to fix anything. There was one scene where a conductor and receptionist have an encounter, where he ends up stamping her butt with official seals. The next morning the girl’s mother finds the stamps and parades her around town, showing her butt to anyone who will pay attention. She is angry that her daughter has been taken advantage of, but the girl loves the attention and finds the whole situation hilarious. For a movie that ends so tragically, I think it still holds up as a rather accurate portrayal of teenage life, if just a little dramatic.

Final review: 4/5

Up next: Amadeus