If you remember liking Closely Watched Trains - don't see it again

Everyone watched "Closely Watched Trains" when it came out (in 1966), I remember seeing it at the Ormont, the "arthouse" cinema in East Orange!, though I remembered nothing else about it. Seeing it again last night brought back almost no memories of the original. If you do remember it, don't see it again, you'll be disappointed. I'm sure at the time it was a huge shock and breakthrough: hailed for frank sexuality, narrative simplicity, seriousness of purpose, sensitive portrait of youth, stark black and white imagery, noble sacrifice, captivating title, and to top it off - who would have expected such a film to emerge from behind the "Iron Curtain"? Today, though it still holds up on the level of cinematography, other elements seem tepid and boring. The sexuality - girl after girl throwing themselves into the arms of the rather unattractive railroad station workers - seems more of a male fantasy: it's not about sexual liberation but about female degradation. The sensitive youth - leading to a suicide attempt because of his sexual impotence - is a very poorly developed character: for example, movie begins with lots of set-up about his family, whom we never see again after the first ten minutes; his naivete seems cute and funny but is actually preposterous and makes light of his torment. The politics - the railroad workers sabatoge a German munitions train (movie set during WWII) - doesn't kick in till well into the film and is not believable in the last; though hailed at the time as a metaphor for Czech resistance to the Soviets, today it seems like a way to make heroes out of guys who were probably just buffoons. Most of all, the movie is painfully, dreadfully slow-paced and at times confusing. What may have seemed serious and profound years ago now just seems like a movie that can't get its plot under way. Sometimes, it's best to leave the past alone.