The Last Train
Director Lixin Fan
Countries Canada, China
Duration 87 min
Synopsis
Every spring, a tidal wave of migrant factory workers attempts to return home by train. It is the Chinese New Year. They return to the rural villages and families they left behind to seek work in the coastal cities. Sixteen years ago, the Zhangs abandoned their young children to find work in the city, comforted by the hope that their wages would allow their children to have a better life. But in a bitter irony, Qin, the child they left behind, has grown into adolescence crippled by a sense of abandonment. In an act of teenage rebellion, she drops out of school. She too will become a migrant worker. Last Train Home follows the Zhangs’ attempts to change their daughter’s course and repair their ruptured family, painting a human portrait of the dramatic changes sweeping China, as they navigate through the stark and difficult choices of a society caught between old ways and new realities.
Every spring, a tidal wave of migrant factory workers attempts to return home by train. It is the Chinese New Year. They return to the rural villages and families they left behind to seek work in the coastal cities. Sixteen years ago, the Zhangs abandoned their young children to find work in the city, comforted by the hope that their wages would allow their children to have a better life. But in a bitter irony, Qin, the child they left behind, has grown into adolescence crippled by a sense of abandonment. In an act of teenage rebellion, she drops out of school. She too will become a migrant worker. Last Train Home follows the Zhangs’ attempts to change their daughter’s course and repair their ruptured family, painting a human portrait of the dramatic changes sweeping China, as they navigate through the stark and difficult choices of a society caught between old ways and new realities.