Language: Mandarin
Year: 2009
Most of us would have experienced it, while travelling on festival season like Deepavali or Pongal. I’m referring to the rush which happens in the Koyambedu Bus Stand and at Central Railway Station in Chennai. Thousands of people flock the terminus to go to their native. A similar incident happens in China, but in a larger scale.
China is known for its human migration, millions of people migrate from the mainland to the cities. The cheap labor is exploited to give ‘Made in China’ brand. Every year, during Chinese New Year, about 130 million of people migrate\travel to their native place. There is a mad rush in every railway station.
Last Train Home is a documentary film, which follows a husband (Changhua) and wife (Suquin) who are working in a factory at Guangzhou, the third largest city in China. Their teen daughter Qin and son Yang lives some 2000 Kms in mainland. They are taken care by their granny in a village. We see the train journey thrice. The parents meet their kids once in a year. The relationship gets sour between them. Qin, discontinues her studies from the village school and take up a job in a garment factory in Guangzhou. Did her parents succeed in taking her back to school is the rest of the plot.
The film can pose some serious questions about labor, especially cheap labor. I fail to understand or find it odd in terms of humanistic values on why labor in countries like China is cheap, but whereas in US, UK,.. it is high. I can understand, it is economics, but that doesn’t mean two people doing the same job can be paid differently. Moreover the person who is less paid has to suffer more.
This is a documentary, not documentary-style, but it looked like a feature film. A must see film, if you like to watch documentaries.
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