Documentary Analysis: The Last Train Home

1. Introduction
1. Background of Lixin Fan
2. Brief summary of film
3. Thesis statement: In the documentary “The Last Train Home” by Lixin Fan, he revealed many issues some Chinese families go through. In the filming that lasted three years, Fan was able to present the effects of internal migration, despite his style of questioning that tarnished the authenticity of the responses of the participants

1. Body
1. The effects of internal migration on Chinese families
1. The current situation of the Zhang poverty
1. Both parents are working in the city away from family
2. Two kids who were raised by their grandparents
3. Raise the incident with the dad and the daughter

1. What impels some families to internally migrate
1. Poverty needs source of income
2. Questioning of Lixin Fan to the participants
1. The way he questioned, committed the fallacy of Loaded Question
2. It tarnished the authenticity

1. Conclusion
1. Lixin Fan did an excellent job in revealing to the entire world the harsh and sad reality of some families
2. Conclude the effect of internal migration to the kids and family
3. Internal migration in China

     Lixin Fan is a world renowned director who made a name for himself in directing  the film “The Last Train Home” which earned many praises and awards, one of which was in 2009, the film won Best Independent Feature Length Award from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Independent Television Services, n.d., Reviews & Awards). Also, in 2012, “The Last Train Home” was named Best Documentary by the prestigious News and Documentary Emmy Awards (Independent Television Services, n.d., Reviews & Awards). Fan started from humble beginnings, born and raised in China, he started out as a journalist at CCTV, a national broadcasting company in China. His exposure to China’s rapid economic expansion led and inspired him to be a documentary film make whose aim is to expose its harsh reality of some economics issues to the public (Public Broadcasting Services: POV, n.d., Bio). The film focuses on a family whose parents among many other Chinese families are migrant workers in the city. It is said in the film that there are over one-hundred thirty million migrant workers, these workers are only given one chance, every New Year, to head back to their provinces to visit theirs families. In the documentary “The Last Train Home” by Lixin Fan, he revealed many issues some Chinese families go through. In the filming that lasted three years, Fan was able to present the effects of internal migration, despite his style of questioning that tarnished the authenticity of the responses of the participants.

     In the film “The Last Train Home” one of its main foci/focuses is on the effects of internal migration among Chinese families. Our main character is the Zhang family, both parents, Changhua, the father along with Suqin, the mother works in a factory in the city sewing garments. They have two children, Qin and Yang who were left under the custody of their grandparents. Throughout the entire documentary, Qin, the elder daughter’s uneasiness and eventual anger and hate towards her parents were very evident. She was even very vocal about it–telling the audience that she dislikes it whenever her parents are around, that they always just end up in an argument. It was clear as day that the children didn’t have a real love connection with their parents. There was a great unexplainable barrier that the parents could not go through. The children’s parental longing was already filled by their grandparents. They are aliens to the concept of family, they are very unfamiliar to it. The parents are trying very hard to adapt such unchartered concept that it does not come naturally, so forced, that in return the children are pushing them away further. An unexpected scene in the film was captured, the father, Changhua and Qin got into a huge fight which somehow brought the film to its height and which also concretized the loathe Qin had towards her parents. 

     Poverty impels most Chinese families to become internal migrants. Living on earnings from mere farming does not meet the needs of most families living in the provinces. The livelihood and other jobs in the province are very limited and does not really pay much. And that is why most families like the Zhangs decided that it would be best if they work outside their province. Only they left without realizing the consequence of how might working away from their family affect the upbringing and behavior of their children towards them.

     In the film, Lixin Fan’s prompt to question the characters were quite evident. To Fan, this enabled the characters help build the story for the target audience, which also helped the documentary to keep moving. Although in my opinion, there were times when Fan committed the fallacy of Loaded Question. A Loaded Question entailed that the question asked contains an unfair or questionable assumption (Bassham, et al, 2012, Loaded Question). With a Loaded Question, this somehow tarnishes the authenticity of the Zhangs’ answers. Fan would of course steer to what he wants, that in some way I believe, sensationalizes the issue at hand all the more. 

     All in all, Lixin Fan did a very excellent job in revealing to the entire world the harsh and sad reality of some Chinese internal migrants. I find it very disheartening that   the cost to pay of these workers who leave their families to work, to earn a living–which is actually for the families own good are broken families. Today, Suqin, their mother, went back to the province to attend to the needs of Yang, the youngest brother, in hopes that Suqin and Changhua can still salvage their relationship. While their father, Changhua, was left in the city to further support their family. Qin on the other hand, is still working but is still being convinced by her parents to go back home to study. Internal migration in China has become a norm, because of their rapidly growing economy, these migrant workers are the solution to keep them hustling. China is very profit-oriented, she does not ask much; cheap labor is what attracts foreign investors. More foreign investors, more work for these internal migrants, more profit for these Chinese.

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References

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.itvs.org/films/last-train-home/reviews-and-awards

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/pov/lasttrainhome/bio.php

Bassham, et al. (2011). Critical thinking: A students introduction. (4th ed., pp. 146-147). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.