Part Three: Rails

"A system of freight railways carries materials and finished goods in and out of Shenyang.  Lingering snow and smoke create an oppressive atmosphere, and there are few signs of life as the trains make their way through the maze of nearly-abandoned factories.  Workers do their jobs mechanically, passing the time with gossip, cards, and cigarette.  Gathering coal to heat the freezing break room is a major concern.  Like many others, Old Du is concerned about his family's future.  He and his teenaged son live uneasily, afraid of being evicted from their tiny apartment.

Spring brings a short relief from the harsh weather, and now instead of snow, weeds cover the tracks.  Rail workers relax in shorts.  An argument flares up between a worker and one of the bosses, but things settle down into the regular rhythm of running the trains.  Autumn comes around, and searching for scrap metal in the freight yards is a popular way to earn extra money.  Old Du and his son have moved.  For the 2001 Chinese New Year, he lights a single firework in the field next to his house.  Friends come for drinks and a steaming hot meal, and the conversation turns to cynicism about love and marriage, as everyone helps make a batch of dumplings."

The Series:

"In West of the Tracks, filmmaker Wang Bing documents the slow, inevitable death of an obsolete manufacturing system. Between 1999 and 2001 he meticulously filmed the lives of the last factory workers, a class of people once promised glory during the Chinese revolution. Now trapped by economic change, the workers become deeply moving film heroes in this modern epic. The film is an engrossing portrait of Chinese society in transition. Cahiers du Cinema compares Wang Bing to the great Russian writers and calls his film 'a masterful production, an open file on realism.' West of the Tracks 'opens up a new and radical era in cinematography.'"

~ all quotes from packaging and DER website