The Last Train Home Film Analysis

The phrase “history repeats it self is quite evident in this film. China is going through a massive industrial revolution, similar to the American industrial revolution of the early 19th century. After three years of following the Zhang family, first time director Lixin Fan released The Last Train Home, attempting to raise awareness to the down side of China’s powefull economy. While the film The Last Train Home seems to just depict the lives of factory workers, it is actually making a political statement about how western capitalism exploits factory workers to produce cheap goods. The film makes this exploitation evident by depicting the fracturing of the Zhang family and the harsh working conditions they must endure. Through the display

These people are dedicating years of their lives to produce goods for America, and in return they receive minimal payment and no compensation. Their salaries are the equivalent of 106 U.S dollars a month and their hours exceed 11 hours. Not only must they endure harsh working conditions, but also make a huge sacrifice by abandoning their families. They take care of their country more than they take care of their kids. Their work is extremely valuable to the government, but their wages do not reflect this. It’s as if they are slaves to the Chinese government, but receive the minimal accommodations in order to

Because Zhang and Chen are ekeing out a living, they are forced to sacrifice a healthy family life. Since they only are only allowed to be absent from work during the Chinese New Year, they are forced to place their children in the care of their grandmother. It is evident in the film that Yang and Qin being raised by a grandmother is not ideal. Due to the absence of their parents Qin and Yang lack a normal happy childhood. Constantly being pressured to do well in school, so they can support their parents, leaves them feeling used. Before the parents come home Yang and Qin are succeeding academically. However, the conflict arises when the parents arrive, and Qin being a teenager, rebels thinking she does not need to listen to her parents, due to their absence. Prior to their arrival, Zhang and Chen admit their struggle with parenting saying “When we are home we don’t even know what to say to our kids.” Due to their absence as parent figures they can not relate to their kids, yet still try to act as authority figures. The parents, especially the father Zhang, seem like they are exploiting their their kids by stressing the importance of their academic success. This is shown many times through the film, like when the Chen calls Qin, and the first words uttered out of her mouth are “did you get your report card,” and followed by “did you do well.” Qin