An immersive journey through the history of rail travel, this dazzling archival documentary captures humanity at its best and worse, bearing witness to both boundless innovation and bitter despair.
A timeless, thought-provoking work of great formal beauty… Riveting – in both senses of the word.
Trains 2024
Pociągi
Compiled solely from archival footage, Trains is an eye-opening time capsule that takes us on an absorbing and historic journey through 20th century Europe, all from the perspective of that era’s dominant mode of transport. As trains are assembled in vast factories, hope and excitement are palpable about the freedom of movement this new technology could bring. That hope persists through the start of World War I, when the conflict still had popular support, but gradually fades as people face the grim realities of disfigurement and death. The tragic cycle repeats with the rise of Hitler and World War II, and the appalling use of the railways to aid genocide.
This outstanding documentary flies by as the mammoth collection of footage culled from over 40 different archives is curated for maximum impact and set to a hypnotic soundtrack. — Jordan Salomen