Catch a glimpse at the people who make your cheap jeans in Last Train Home, Lixin Fan’s illuminating look at China’s annual human migration of 130 million people. During Chinese New Year, workers leave their posts to return to their families, clogging the train stations and making O’Hare at Christmas look like just another day at the DMV.
The most surprising aspect of this coolly observed 87-minute film are the similarities between Chinese low-wage workers and their American counterparts, especially during holidays. Teenage daughter Qin cares about her clothes and hairstyle, wants to quit school and work at a disco, and drops the f-bomb when her father gets home, resulting in slaps all around. American Thanksgiving get-togethers sometimes have the same strained fireworks.
In the factory, surrounded by bales of uncut denim, Chinese workers mock the fat Americans who buy the jeans they assemble (40″ waistlines are unimaginable to them), but they also follow U.S. sports playoffs and scrutinize brand labels.
Filmmaker Lixin zeroes in on one particular family, parents Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin who left their home in the Szechuan province to work in a textile factory in industrial Guangzhou. Their annual trek back to see their kids seems more obligatory than anticipated, especially for the dour-faced wife who repeatedly complains “we have no choice” about any number of issues, particularly the need to buy the virtually unavailable train tickets for the journey.
Waiting in lines for hours and even days, pushing through the masses in relentless rain, the crowds in overhead shots look like a works of animated abstract expressionism. This contrasts to the expansive landscapes of the rural countryside, breathtaking natural beauty that all but goes unnoticed by the workers, who focus on work, income, and obligation, even while their families increasingly fracture.
In that sense, Last Train Home offers a mirror to a world where disconnect is the norm and sadly out of balance.
Last Train Home is part of the Champaign Art Theater’s documentary festival. It will be playing Saturday, January 22 at 5:30 p.m., and Tuesday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m. See the full schedule here.