A documentary film following the lives of a Chinese migrant worker family over the course of two years, Last Train Home is a terrific if harrowing insight into the lives of factory workers. Parents Zhang Changhua and Chen Suqin have spent the last sixteen years working in factories in Dongguan, several thousand miles away from their home village.As a result they have hardly seen their two children, who have been raised by their grandparents. Giving up everything in order to make a better life for their children, their absence instead drives teenage daughter Qin to leave herself to join the factory workforce, leaving mother Chen to question whether their sacrifice was worthwhile.
However changes are afoot in China, the domestic market is thriving, and factories in Guangdong now lie empty while manufacturing chases labour to the north. It would be interesting to see how this family and others fare as we enter into the next 5 Year Plan.
