Last Train Home (2009)
A.k.a. Gui Tu Lie Che
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1512201/
UPDATE
I don't know what happened in the last two days but internationally, the blog got read. I'm perfectly fine if we get the reputation as a blog that "gets around". Welcome readers in Sweden, Norway, Austria, Australia, Puerto Rico, India, Japan, Chile, and Egypt. Also welcome finally Mexico. You've seemed so close and yet so far away at the same time. Thanks for coming back Canada, Uk, Netherlands, and France readers. Of course thank you German and Russian readers because outside the U.S, most of my traffic comes from you. Oh and USA folks, keep it up. Please. If i missed your country, come back a few more times and you'll show up.
Movie time. I'll start with a warning. This documentary does not end happy. I put it on thinking I could just fall asleep to it and catch the rest in the morning. I couldn't turn it off because I wanted it to get happy before I snoozed. It never happened and just ended up being a rough night. If you read through this post and still want to watch it, here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udVpkE0Mm2Y. The quality isn't bad and I think the audio is a little behind the video but it's all in Chinese (Mandarin maybe) so I was just reading subtitles anyway.
Last Train Home is about the worlds largest human migration. Every Chinese New Year, 130 million workers travel home from their urban factory jobs to their homes in the country. Our movie follows one family's trip. The first thing I observed is that Chinese people work way too hard, at least for my liking. Some couple wants to get home to see their kids but are having trouble scoring train tickets. They only have five days before it's the new year. China has provinces and I didn't know that. You would think the 2003 Southwest Middle School geography bee champion would have that kind of knowledge, but I unfortunately do not.
Movie jumps to some high school girl in the country. Their town is made up of only kids and old people. Everyone else has moved into the cities to find work. Most of the high school kids have left too. I'm guessing this girl is the daughter of the couple in the first scene. Along with the girl, there is also her younger brother and grandmother living in the house. The grandmother is really old school. She only talks in fortune cookie sayings. "Eat more and you will walk faster", stuff like that.
Back to the couple. They finally get their ticket and they're off. Train looks kind of cramped and when they finally get off it's time to get on a ferry. The Chinese country side is really nice looking I must say. The mom tells a story of how they had to leave the daughter when she was one and the son when he was an infant to go and find work. The grandmother said it wasn't ago idea for her to keep coming back for short periods of time and just to wait until the girl was older. I don't get it and the mother said she was just silent and couldn't say anything back to her. So this is the first time they have met in a long time, that's what I'm trying to get at. I just want to add that the grandmother looks 400 years old.
The parents make it home and all they talk about is the kids grades. They may have even said their marks. It's a nonstop lecture. It's understandable though because the parents don't want the kids to end up in factories either. Mom and Dad go back to work and there is a sad scene of the girl crying at the grandfathers grave. She says that she doesn't want to see her parents again because they don't get along. Aww. Back to the grandmother who says that mosquitoes don't bite her because she's a "hardworking woman" If that is really the truth, than I want to be a hardworking woman some day
The girl finally leaves to go and work in a factory. All I can say is why? You have a nice easy job working on a farm going to school every once in a while. Or you can sew jeans for 10 hours a day and share a bed room with 6 other people. Easy decision for me. Then she gets interviewed and you find out all she wanted was her freedom. Because her parents working hard for her and not being able to be around was really holding her down. The mom and dad are not stoked that she left home. School is a cage to her and she wants to get out. What a rebel! I bet if she was a dude that she would wear guyliner all the time. The girl (Qin) goes on to say that all her parents care about is money. Am I getting old if my first thought is that this girl needs a whoopin? When did I start taking the parents side in fights? Some guy in the jeans factory says he cannot believe the size of some of the jeans he has to make. All of the tall and fat jeans get sent to America. I laugh.
The parents try again to talk some sense into Qin. The three of them go back to the house for New Years this time and it is complete chaos. Something happened and all of the trains got shut down so everyone is stuck at the train station standing for like a week. I swear I heard the sound of 2 million Chinese people crying at once and it was awful. The army shows up to try and control the crowd. The mother is lecturing the daughter and the girl is being a punk the whole time during the wait so they are both losing. They get on the train and it's just full of miserable people. Trail of tears type emotions to a lesser degree of course. One of the guys on the train looks up how Yao Ming did and now they are speaking my language.
LETS THROW ALL OF THIS INTO SPOILERS
Qin is 100% grumpy. The parents go on to tell some more of their story. It's mega sad. The three family members finally make it to their home and have a big fight. Qin is screaming at them, saying if they cared about her then they would've been home to raise her from a child. She definitely has some abandonment issues or something. She then drops an F-Bomb in mandarin (which I didn't learn how to say) and the dad loses it. Full on tries to fist-fight the daughter, slapping her around and knocking her to the ground more than once. At this point I feel bad for the daughter and don't know which side I am on anymore. I was all parents but the girl definitely just needs love and her parents either don't know how to give it. They have a post-fight dinner and it is super awkward. The parents kind of give up and say Qin knows what they wish she would do but in the end it's her life and her decisions.
The girl leaves on her own and the mom prays to Buddah for her protection. Qin ends upbeing a busgirl at a night club. Not glamorous. There are scenes of the dad getting sick and working hard while the Qin parties. The mom decides that she wants to go back home to make sure that the son doesn't end up like Qin. I would say maybe it would've been better if she said to take care of the son but what can you do. The movie ends with the dad walking back to the factory alone as the mom gets on a train to go back home.
LESS SPOILERS, MORE FRESHERS?
Favorite Scene : The girl at her grandfathers grave is definitely the best. It's the same as the girl at her dads grave in War Dance. Emotions get so intense that you feel like Qin forgets there is a person with a camera standing right next to her. Ultimate for a documentary.
Rating : 7.5 White Rabbit Creamy Candies. According to google, those are big in China. Movie is harsh for sure and when I saw there were like 10 minutes left I began wondering what the moment where everyone comes back together as a family would be. Moment definitely never came. I looked up where they are now and the mom is back at home with the son still and doing good. The people who made the movie hooked Qin up, getting her into a vocational school. She still doesn't talk to her parents and doesn't want to. The dad works even longer hours to support the whole family minus Qin. Oh ya rating, I liked it but can't say that I was enthralled the entire time. Pretty wild last 30 minutes.
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A.k.a. Gui Tu Lie Che
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1512201/
UPDATE
I don't know what happened in the last two days but internationally, the blog got read. I'm perfectly fine if we get the reputation as a blog that "gets around". Welcome readers in Sweden, Norway, Austria, Australia, Puerto Rico, India, Japan, Chile, and Egypt. Also welcome finally Mexico. You've seemed so close and yet so far away at the same time. Thanks for coming back Canada, Uk, Netherlands, and France readers. Of course thank you German and Russian readers because outside the U.S, most of my traffic comes from you. Oh and USA folks, keep it up. Please. If i missed your country, come back a few more times and you'll show up.
Movie time. I'll start with a warning. This documentary does not end happy. I put it on thinking I could just fall asleep to it and catch the rest in the morning. I couldn't turn it off because I wanted it to get happy before I snoozed. It never happened and just ended up being a rough night. If you read through this post and still want to watch it, here it is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udVpkE0Mm2Y. The quality isn't bad and I think the audio is a little behind the video but it's all in Chinese (Mandarin maybe) so I was just reading subtitles anyway.
Last Train Home is about the worlds largest human migration. Every Chinese New Year, 130 million workers travel home from their urban factory jobs to their homes in the country. Our movie follows one family's trip. The first thing I observed is that Chinese people work way too hard, at least for my liking. Some couple wants to get home to see their kids but are having trouble scoring train tickets. They only have five days before it's the new year. China has provinces and I didn't know that. You would think the 2003 Southwest Middle School geography bee champion would have that kind of knowledge, but I unfortunately do not.
Movie jumps to some high school girl in the country. Their town is made up of only kids and old people. Everyone else has moved into the cities to find work. Most of the high school kids have left too. I'm guessing this girl is the daughter of the couple in the first scene. Along with the girl, there is also her younger brother and grandmother living in the house. The grandmother is really old school. She only talks in fortune cookie sayings. "Eat more and you will walk faster", stuff like that.
Back to the couple. They finally get their ticket and they're off. Train looks kind of cramped and when they finally get off it's time to get on a ferry. The Chinese country side is really nice looking I must say. The mom tells a story of how they had to leave the daughter when she was one and the son when he was an infant to go and find work. The grandmother said it wasn't ago idea for her to keep coming back for short periods of time and just to wait until the girl was older. I don't get it and the mother said she was just silent and couldn't say anything back to her. So this is the first time they have met in a long time, that's what I'm trying to get at. I just want to add that the grandmother looks 400 years old.
The parents make it home and all they talk about is the kids grades. They may have even said their marks. It's a nonstop lecture. It's understandable though because the parents don't want the kids to end up in factories either. Mom and Dad go back to work and there is a sad scene of the girl crying at the grandfathers grave. She says that she doesn't want to see her parents again because they don't get along. Aww. Back to the grandmother who says that mosquitoes don't bite her because she's a "hardworking woman" If that is really the truth, than I want to be a hardworking woman some day
The girl finally leaves to go and work in a factory. All I can say is why? You have a nice easy job working on a farm going to school every once in a while. Or you can sew jeans for 10 hours a day and share a bed room with 6 other people. Easy decision for me. Then she gets interviewed and you find out all she wanted was her freedom. Because her parents working hard for her and not being able to be around was really holding her down. The mom and dad are not stoked that she left home. School is a cage to her and she wants to get out. What a rebel! I bet if she was a dude that she would wear guyliner all the time. The girl (Qin) goes on to say that all her parents care about is money. Am I getting old if my first thought is that this girl needs a whoopin? When did I start taking the parents side in fights? Some guy in the jeans factory says he cannot believe the size of some of the jeans he has to make. All of the tall and fat jeans get sent to America. I laugh.
The parents try again to talk some sense into Qin. The three of them go back to the house for New Years this time and it is complete chaos. Something happened and all of the trains got shut down so everyone is stuck at the train station standing for like a week. I swear I heard the sound of 2 million Chinese people crying at once and it was awful. The army shows up to try and control the crowd. The mother is lecturing the daughter and the girl is being a punk the whole time during the wait so they are both losing. They get on the train and it's just full of miserable people. Trail of tears type emotions to a lesser degree of course. One of the guys on the train looks up how Yao Ming did and now they are speaking my language.
LETS THROW ALL OF THIS INTO SPOILERS
Qin is 100% grumpy. The parents go on to tell some more of their story. It's mega sad. The three family members finally make it to their home and have a big fight. Qin is screaming at them, saying if they cared about her then they would've been home to raise her from a child. She definitely has some abandonment issues or something. She then drops an F-Bomb in mandarin (which I didn't learn how to say) and the dad loses it. Full on tries to fist-fight the daughter, slapping her around and knocking her to the ground more than once. At this point I feel bad for the daughter and don't know which side I am on anymore. I was all parents but the girl definitely just needs love and her parents either don't know how to give it. They have a post-fight dinner and it is super awkward. The parents kind of give up and say Qin knows what they wish she would do but in the end it's her life and her decisions.
The girl leaves on her own and the mom prays to Buddah for her protection. Qin ends upbeing a busgirl at a night club. Not glamorous. There are scenes of the dad getting sick and working hard while the Qin parties. The mom decides that she wants to go back home to make sure that the son doesn't end up like Qin. I would say maybe it would've been better if she said to take care of the son but what can you do. The movie ends with the dad walking back to the factory alone as the mom gets on a train to go back home.
LESS SPOILERS, MORE FRESHERS?
Favorite Scene : The girl at her grandfathers grave is definitely the best. It's the same as the girl at her dads grave in War Dance. Emotions get so intense that you feel like Qin forgets there is a person with a camera standing right next to her. Ultimate for a documentary.
Rating : 7.5 White Rabbit Creamy Candies. According to google, those are big in China. Movie is harsh for sure and when I saw there were like 10 minutes left I began wondering what the moment where everyone comes back together as a family would be. Moment definitely never came. I looked up where they are now and the mom is back at home with the son still and doing good. The people who made the movie hooked Qin up, getting her into a vocational school. She still doesn't talk to her parents and doesn't want to. The dad works even longer hours to support the whole family minus Qin. Oh ya rating, I liked it but can't say that I was enthralled the entire time. Pretty wild last 30 minutes.
Going Home for the First Time
Going Home for the Second Time
Sweet Girl still Living at Home
Dramatic Stare into the Distance
Saying Bye to Brother
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Cramped Train/Germmobile
Train Station Chaos
Train goes to nowhere? Now there's your tagline.
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