Gui tu lie che

Last Train Home (2009), directed by Lixin Fan, is a Chinese documentary, or possibly a docudrama. According to the film, over 200 million factory workers, who have left their homes to work in the city, attempt to return home for the New Year holiday.

As would be expected, the Chinese rail system can't possibly handle this burden, and the system basically collapses. Millions of workers, all over the country, are stranded for days at rail stations. Sometimes they find space on a train, other times they go back to work having spent the entire holiday at stations, crammed together with other workers in the same situation.

Everywhere we turn in the U.S., items we purchase say, "Made in China." While the Chinese economy booms because of this immense export capability, family life and social cohesion suffer.

We meet a husband and wife, who work together in a distant city, and their teenage son and daughter, who still live at home with their grandmother. The children feel abandoned, and the parents feel unappreciated for the immense sacrifices they have made to support the family.

There are no heroes or villains in this documentary. The situation represents a microcosm of a huge societal change, and the end results are unpredictable.

We saw this film at the ill-named, but excellent, Rochester 360 - 365 film festival. It will work well on a small screen, although the crowd scenes will probably be more effective when viewed in a theater. This is an important film, but not a happy one. It's definitely worth seeking out.