And now for something completely different
The Railway Children (2000) Is not specifically a children's film. It's one of those olden times stories that are a good watch for anyone of any age, in the era and vein of Dickens and the like. This one was written by Edith Nesbit and is about a bunch of rich kids who, through the tragic arrest of their father, suddenly become poor kids who are shuffled off from the town to the countryside in a desperate attempt to quickly downsize.
However, this is not a story that will make you blub from all the misery, quite the opposite in fact. I found myself in literal tears at a number of points in the film, but not tears of sadness but instead tears of joy. This is quite possibly one of the most wholesome stories ever told. Where Les Miserables pounds you with 50 little unhappy endings before providing some kind of happy ending, this little gem pounds you with 50 little happy endings before providing its happy ending.
Each one pounding on your senses like a host of saccharin injections, each one more sensual than the last. And barely any of it is what one would call cliche, for pretty much every little event in the film one's ability to predict what was going to happen next was practically zero. This isn't some chemically developed-in-a-lab forced collection of cliches mass produced by roomfulls of professional hacks, this is something truly unique from a unique voice.
And apparently those who are familiar with Nesbit believe this to be because she was just such a damn nice person and what you see in the book and on screen is just how she was, how she imagined the world, how she believed the world should be or even is.
The most famous version is the 1970 film, which itself was coming off of a recently popular tv series of the book, so I was sceptical that the 2000 edition would be the right version to watch first. However, I noticed that Jenny Agutter was in all three, as a child in the first versions and here playing the mother. And then I noticed that both the films were rated the same 7.3 on IMDB, so I had no reason to assume anything.
And, oh my word, this version even has Richard Attenborough in it (you know, the old guy who owns Jurassic Park), and yet its just a relatively cheap PBS tv movie. These kinds of people wont do it unless its done properly, and it was. On the DVD I had there was even an introduction by Agutter, formally declaring her seal of approval (though I'd advise not watching that first as it did contain spoilers sadly).
I'm not sure there's any central plot to the story, well, there is, but its only briefly referenced here and there, it's mainly one of those 'Kids lark about' films, like Stand By Me or Swallows and Amazons. I think the only complaint I would have is that very occasionally the kids come across as a bit wooden/amateur, but only on a massive nit-pick level. And even this works in the film's favour as innocence is so central a theme. This is one of those examples of art that will simply 'test your humanity'. If you are in the least concerned or mindful that you think you're becoming or have become an emotional husk or that you feel the rest of the world is, then try this one out, you'll know for sure by the end of it what emotions still reside within you.
A very rare and highly deserved
5/5 for me.
