Last Train Home

There is a brief scene in this semi-documentary where one of the workers working on an immense pile of blue jeans for import to the U.S. laughs at the enormous waistline--a 40! He comments that only in America are there enough people who could fill so many of those jeans; I was in Costco two days later, and one of those folks was behind me in line , cart crammed with huge portions of food, loudly complaining because the line wasn't moving fast enough for her. I wanted give her a copy of this tender, sad, revealing true story about people waiting in line, sometimes in the rain, for five days just to catch a train for their once a year vacation, usually to visit children they have left behind so that can earn enough money for the kids to live well and educate themselves and move ahead. Even with the mountain of personal and financial problems the family shares, their essential humanity shines through, and as with families all over the planet, they just want things to be better for their children. This is a penetrating and thoughtful film about a nation that doesn't know how to handle its sudden growth and power, and is about the results of such power that often impact the victims of the system