Last Train Home is
a documentary crafted by Lixin Fan and released in 2009. Fan follows three years
in the life of a family swimming in the annual labor migration of the Chinese
industrial revolution. In many respects, this family presents a non-typical
image of modern China. Courtesy of the barbaric One Child policy, the fertility
rate of the Chinese mainland has fallen 6 births per woman in 1970 to a low of
1.4 birth per woman in 2010. What is also notable, the first born is a
daughter. For variety of reasons, this is not as common as it statistically
should be in china. (Freakonomics: Misadventures in Baby Making)
Father and Mother are Zhang Changhua and Chen Suquin,
both among the 130 million textile workers who live and work and eat and
breathe the factories of Guangzhou (near Hong Kong).Despite the low wages
earned in the factory, they are able to save enough Yuan each year to more than
offset the earnings of their agricultural options at home. Meanwhile, their children are raised in the
agricultural homestead by their grandmother. Last Train Home begins as the parents near the end of their
fifteenth year of migrant labor. They work to save enough to send both children
to school. Each year, they return home to
celebrate the Chinese New Year, duration of one to two months. On each occasion
it is an ordeal of immense proportions to journey home by the trains which
navigate the Chinese countryside. Fan does a fine job capturing the scope of humanity which
travels at this time, comprising nearly 130 million souls headed back home at
the same time. To miss the train going home is to miss home entirely for the
year.
The first born is Zhang Qin, a daughter of high school
age who appears to have nothing but distain for the efforts of her parents and
her grandmother. Her coming of age story unfolds with remarkable alacrity and
feeling throughout Fan’s work. Her younger brother is struggling academically,
and the reasons develop over the years as well. There exists a powerful tension
between the three generations, as the young and old clash over ideals and
lifestyles. Distance and time spent apart remain enormous obstacles to
overcome, and like all families in history, there is no final conclusion to the
joys and struggles of life.
The obvious question is never asked, but I will address
it here after finding my own answer. Why would this family not move to the city?
Due to the hukou of the Chinese political
system, the farmer families are unable to access public services beyond their district.
The hukou status grants government
services to people, provided they remain in the proper place granted to them.
These include education, medical care, housing, and pensions. To move into an
area where the hukou is not applicable
is economic suicide. Wealthy city dwellers are unwilling to debase their hukou benefits and refuse to grant a
change in hukou status to migrant
families. In consequence, a population comprising nearly 40% of the United
States migrates hither and yon on a yearly basis.
Last Train Home is
presented only in Mandarin with lively and responsive English subtitling.
Before this begins to daunt, consider this: It is rare that you will devote
your entire attention to what is on a screen before you, because you can simply
turn away and listen to the audio whilst your mind cleverly fills in the void.
Not so in Mandarin with English subtitles, as the subtitles require constant
attention.
Use your Netflix for good tonight, this is highly
recommended viewing.
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