Last Train Home

This and Up the Yangtze are two great documentaries about the radically changing Chinese landscape and culture. This one is about a married couple (part of the 130 million people who live in big cities away from their families) who work in a factory in the city of Guangdong, far from home. Once a year, they make the long journey back home for the New Year.

It is an insane scene as people desperately try to secure tickets for the long train ride home. This film follows the couple over the course of a number of years. We get to see many different aspects of the journey and the arrival home over the course of a number of years.

Like the best documentaries, this film really gives a sense of what it's like for the millions of Chinese in a similar position (or any migrant separated from their families for most of the year) who only get to see their families once a year. It's heartbreaking enough to see the toll the whole endeavor has taken on the family. But it becomes almost unbearable to watch as their children become increasingly bitter at the parents' absence over the years. It sounds awful. And it is. But it makes for a compelling film.

2009, Year of U.S. Release: 2010
PBS
Directed by Lixin Fan