Last Train Home screened this week at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX. The Last Train Home tells the story of hundreds of millions of rural Chinese migrant workers who spend most of the year working in urban factories and only get to come home once-a-year for the Chinese New Year. The most powerful sequences are those set in trains and train stations which are often highly claustrophobic. The film tells the story of millions through the microcosm of a single family's struggles for a better life. Mostly, it shows the incredible strains that this sort of lifestyle puts on family life and relationships.
While the filming is quite powerful, it could have used some more editing to trim it down. There are too many repetitive shots that add little to the overall storytelling. The film seems to have been done with the cooperation of the Chinese government which probably led to its broadly apolitical approach. While it emphasizes the human side of the story, it leaves out any criticism of China's repressive regime or the economic policies that have led to so much human suffering. The lack of political and historical context weakens the overall product. The film builds on the work of the documentary China Blue which examines the experience of Chinese migrants working in a blue jean factory.
While the filming is quite powerful, it could have used some more editing to trim it down. There are too many repetitive shots that add little to the overall storytelling. The film seems to have been done with the cooperation of the Chinese government which probably led to its broadly apolitical approach. While it emphasizes the human side of the story, it leaves out any criticism of China's repressive regime or the economic policies that have led to so much human suffering. The lack of political and historical context weakens the overall product. The film builds on the work of the documentary China Blue which examines the experience of Chinese migrants working in a blue jean factory.