Review: In Transit - a meditation on Amtrak travel experience
Last Thursday, I was able to catch a screening of In Transit - the last film by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles. It follows the many passengers on board one of North America's most iconic trains - the Seattle/Portland to Chicago Empire Builder. A woman and her children heading to a reunion with her estranged family, a man heading to Indiana to propose his girlfriend, a veteran who overcame many demons taking one last trip, a pregnant young woman just hoping that she could get to Minneapolis before her baby is born, and so much more.
I've never ridden Empire Builder. But as I left the screening, I couldn't help but think that it perfectly captures the Amtrak travel experience, the good and the bad. the delays, the fact that the views outside the window can be boring and breathtaking, the way you start to get restless if you get cooked up inside the train for too long and the novelty of getting out at various stops (whether it's for short smoke stops or longer rest stops), the easy comradeship between passengers. You can meet all kind of people with interesting lives, and you can have those deep, long conversations... But then, the time comes to get off the train, they live, or you leave, and you never hear from them again. Which is kind of the way the documentary treats its subjects. They get on the train, they get off the train, and that's the last we hear from them. Sure, you don't know what happens next, and you want to know what happens next... But it's kind of fitting.
I don't know what people who never rode trains, or never rode Amtrak trains in particular. But, like I said... if there was a way to convey what it's like, to capture what it's like, this was a perfect way to do it.
In Transit TRAILER from Lost&Found on Vimeo.
In Transit is currently being screened all over United States. Check out its official website to see if one of those screenings is near you.
I've never ridden Empire Builder. But as I left the screening, I couldn't help but think that it perfectly captures the Amtrak travel experience, the good and the bad. the delays, the fact that the views outside the window can be boring and breathtaking, the way you start to get restless if you get cooked up inside the train for too long and the novelty of getting out at various stops (whether it's for short smoke stops or longer rest stops), the easy comradeship between passengers. You can meet all kind of people with interesting lives, and you can have those deep, long conversations... But then, the time comes to get off the train, they live, or you leave, and you never hear from them again. Which is kind of the way the documentary treats its subjects. They get on the train, they get off the train, and that's the last we hear from them. Sure, you don't know what happens next, and you want to know what happens next... But it's kind of fitting.
I don't know what people who never rode trains, or never rode Amtrak trains in particular. But, like I said... if there was a way to convey what it's like, to capture what it's like, this was a perfect way to do it.
You can watch this video on www.livejournal.com
In Transit TRAILER from Lost&Found on Vimeo.
In Transit is currently being screened all over United States. Check out its official website to see if one of those screenings is near you.