Train Dreams follows Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a logger who works the forests of the Pacific Northwest, helping to create a new world at the turn of the 20th century.
They say that life must, and always does, go on and Train Dreams is the cinematic version of this idiom. For the first half of its runtime, we watch as Robert navigates life as America slowly expands westward; doing seasonal work clearing the left half of the country’s vast forests to make room for railroads and the infrastructure that would allow the United States to grow. Most people don’t realize that they’re experiencing history as they live it, instead just focusing on life one day at a time as they try to support themselves and perhaps their family if they have one. Train Dreams explores how the sands of time work within the context of our everyday lives, writing the future while we remain oblivious until the very end when the sweeping changes are too vast to ignore. How Robert experienced them as reaches old age puts into perspective not just the life that he’s lived, but his own mortality and the mortality of every person he’s ever known.
One prime example is the memory of an old coworker in the forests Arn Peeples (William H. Macy), a nice man who dies tragically in a work accident involving a tree branch. Arn left his mark, literally, in a tree we see later in the film and Robert encounters a fellow coworker of theirs when he’s older and on another job. When Robert attempts to bond and reminisce with the coworker over Arn, he finds that the now old man barely remembers Arn and has completely forgotten his tragic workplace death. The scene encapsulates the fragility of not just life, but our memory. Destined to become dust in the wind, just a faint recollection as life moves on for everyone. Train Dreams presents this as a slight tragedy, but more so as a realistic depiction of how life is and a reminder of who and what is most important in this life; our closest loved ones and our own life experiences.
The film does this through its depiction of Robert’s grief that marks the latter half of his life following a devastating family tragedy. Robert spends the rest of the film holding out hope that the situation will resolve itself and working toward the day where it hopefully happens. Robert never forgets those he lost even as time marches on and the hope he holds on to slowly dims. Despite Arn’s memory fading away from most of his coworkers, the memory of family that Robert never lets go of serves as a stark reminder that family is most important in this life as they will always carry you with them no matter the changes that the world undergoes. Even as the railroads that Robert built and which served as the impetus for making America what it is become obsolete, his memory of what he did and who he did it for remains. All of these things are communicated in a quiet but poignant way through Edgerton’s performance as Robert. His depiction as the working man is tender and contemplative, reinforcing the meditative nature of the film. There is emotionality presence in his acting, but it is more understated than bombastic. Like his performance, Train Dreams as a film may be too mellow and deliberate for casual viewers, eschewing any big swings in favor of subtle character study. Fans of Terrence Malick and thoughtful, slower paced fare may connect with this one more deeply, but those that catch the film’s message.
Image: Netflix
