“Last Train Home” is a mind-boggling documentary that one must see to even comprehend. In China, millions upon millions of people work in communities far from their homes, living in uncomfortable dormitories, working long hours in factories. Once a year, around Chinese New Year, they get a few days off to go home and see children, parents, friends.
So 130 million people battle for limited space on trains, ride for several days, see their loved ones and repeat the struggle on the return trip to their menial jobs.
Filmmaker Lixin Fan views a couple who work in Guangzhou and travel to see their children, and their mother, in a small rural town two or three days away. The logistics are absurd. Watching the mobs descend on ticket counters is scary. People wait for days in stations because trains are delayed. They are treated like animals. Lines are unruly, food counters and restrooms seem non-existent.
And when Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin get home, they find Zhang Qin, a rebellious, truculent, hostile teenage daughter, an unhappy pre-teen son and a mother who is obviously tired of the permanent career as a baby-sitter.
It’s difficult to envision a society that lives like this, but Lixin shows it to us. Think Highway 270 is crowded? Just check Lixin’s shots of the Guangzhou railway station.
Last Train Home opens today at the Plaza Frontenac
—Joe