Every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos as million migrant workers journey to their home villages for the new years holiday. This is considered the worlds largest human migration. Film summary the extraordinary last train home begins with a simple fact that, in china, more than million migrant workers journey home to their rural villages every year for new years. Last train home was an interesting, but disturbing, documentary by lixin fan showing us the modern china,where most of the manufacturing for the world were made today. Then lixin narrows his focus to one married couple. Filmed with almost voyeuristic style, its hard not to want to turn away when you see the eyes of those being filmed glaring back at you as if daring you to look hard at the reality so few even bother to acknowledge. They no longer live in a country without consumer luxuries. This evening i had the honor of interviewing the young chinese filmmaker lixin fan after a screening of his documentary film last train home.
Its one of those extraordinary films, like hoop dreams, that tells a story the makers could not possibly have anticipated in advance. Media in category last train home film the following 8 files are in this category, out of 8 total. Since its beginnings in 1997, last train home has evolved from a parttime band in washington d. Lixin fan, is a chinese director who filmed the documentary film last train home. The wave is made up of millions of migrant factory workers. With changhua zhang, yang zhang, suqin chen, qin zhang. Taking the last train home far flungers roger ebert. The movie has been out for a few years, and it has.
Rent last train home 2009 on dvd and bluray dvd netflix. Last train home is a family story about chinese migrant workers. He was inspired when they were shooting up the yangtze. Shot over three years, last train home deals with an amazing social fact every single chinese new year, million migrant workers leave the cities and return home to their rural villages. Come browse our large digital warehouse of free sample essays. It is a documentary of one migrant family and the sad realities of life in sweat shop china. Last train home is a documentary directed by lixin fan.
Last train home is the second single from start something, the second album by the welsh rock band lostprophets. The unsustainable system in which the prc continues to function as the factory. Seeing this film, you suspect there are many suicides among workers in factories whose brands are less famous than apple. In this pbs video interview, lixin fan discusses the inspiration behind his film last train home. Modern china, industrial china, rural china, migrant workers, gender. Rent last train home 2009 starring changhua zhan and suqin chen on dvd and bluray. Last train home ep, a 2009 ep by ryan star, or the title song last train home lostprophets song last train home, song by network 3 last train home, an instrumental by the pat metheny group from still life talking. He went to guangzhou to search for potential subjects for the film. It won the best documentary feature at 2009 idfa and has been distributed by zeitgeist films in the us. In mandarin and sichuan dialect with english subtitles. Lixin fan opens his debut documentary feature, last train home, with an overhead shot of chinese migrant workers gathered by the thousands outside a railway station, hoping to get tickets so they can head home for the new years holiday. He describes the family that is at the center of the film, and the challenges he faced while filming them. Last train home, a 2010 album by foghat, also a song on the album.
Every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos, as all at once, a tidal wave of humanity attempts to return home by train. Their underpaid toil feeds the chinese exportoriented economy and. It remains their most successful in the united states, as it reached number one on billboard s alternative songs chart. Last train home tracks the zhang family, opening with scenes in a clothing warehouse where married couple changhua zhang and chen sugin work assiduously to support, one discovers through interview footage, their two children living over 1,000 kilometers away. Last train home discussion guide influence film club. Their unseen story plays out as china soars towards being a world superpower. Last train homes intimate observation of one fractured family sheds light on the human cost of chinas ascendance as an economic superpower. Lixin fan records factory workers family in china the. Last train home, an extraordinary documentary, watches that conflict play out over a period of three years in one family. Use one of the films accompanying resources to learn about the issues and get involved. Last train home, a 2015 pat metheny group compilation album. Zhang changhua and chen suqin, who have to wait days and pay triple the regular fare to take a steamy. The trailer for last train home which will play at the sundance film festival.
Filmmaker lixin fan may very well be one of modernday chinas great nonfiction storytellers. Last train home pictures and movie photo gallery check out just released last train home pics, images, clips, trailers, production photos and more from rotten tomatoes movie pictures archive. There are, in china, some million mingong, workers from the hinterlands countryside who move to the big coastal cities in search of employment. A family embarks on an annual tormenting journey along with 200 other million peasant workers to reunite with their distant family, and to revive their love and dignity as china soars as the worlds next super power. Last train home complements yung changs up the yangtze also produced by mila aungthwin, and also the work, both fictional and non, of. Listen to last train home from last train homes true north for free, and see the artwork, lyrics and similar artists. Its a story about hundreds of millions, who work day and night in the production lines that make consumer goods for the rest of. Watch last train home directed by lixin fan online.
Last train home, a visually striking debut film from chinese canadian director lixin fan, draws us into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in this desperate annual migration. Last train home is a heartbreaking documentary about migrant workers in china who number about million. Cut to a rural village, where zhangs two kids, teenage girl qin zhang and her younger. He got the idea of the film when he met the chinesecanadian filmmaker yung chang. It delves inside the prism and observes the phenomenon of chinese migration workers from rural villages to commercial cities, all through the reflection of a single family. A couple embarks on a journey home for chinese new year along with million other migrant workers, to reunite with their children and struggle for a future. Last train home 2010 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. Every spring, chinas cities are plunged into chaos as million migrant workers journey to their. This single was the bands joint highest charting in the uk, tied with rooftops a liberation broadcast. This mass exodus is the worlds largest human migrationan epic spectacle that reveals a country tragically caught between its rural past and industrial future. Homeward train is a 2009 documentary film directed by lixin fan and produced by daniel cross and mila aungthwin of eyesteelfilm. Get the knowledge you need in order to pass your classes and more.
Last train home is an american altcountry band led by eric brace guitar, lead vocals, formed originally in 1997 in washington d. Last train home itvs documentary film funding itvs. Last train home is a stark, bleak, and unflinching revelation of a film. Last train home suggests that the times they are achangin. It follows a typical migrant worker family over a threeyear period. Last train home full frame documentary film festival. In these few eloquent shots, last train home captures what few other films have. Chinesecanadian director lixin fan considers the social upheavals wrought by chinas economic miracle in this 2009 documentary, which records the annual migration of nearly million urban. Last train home 2009, the debut film by director lixin fan, is a stunning documentary about the modern china.
Sixteen years ago, the zhangs abandoned their young children to find work in the city, consoled by the hope that their wages would lift their. Depending on which source you consult, there are between and 230 million migrants workers in china today who travel long distances across the country in search of better paying jobs and an escape. Chinese peasants no longer live without television and a vision of another world. In your own words, what is last train home about lixin fan. Complications arise when denzel crosses paths with the leader of the retribution clan, john, who hides a dark secret of hatred and. Monica film center santa monica monica film center santa monica. Chaos and claustrophobia are captured in shots of teeming crowds where people wait for. A young black insurance salesmen named denzel finds himself on the wrong side of the tracks in a town which still bears the scars of racial hatred from years past. Last train home is selected in world documentary competition at sundance film festival 2010 and won the top prize at ridm montreal and the whistler international film festival.
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