The Railway
2007 · 104 MIN · IMDB 6.6 · 85 VOTES · DIR. Aleksey Fedorchenko
Overview
Mischa, a mute boy, sets out on a surrealistic journey together with his father and two men. Their means of transportation is an old Soviet locomotive, loaded with stolen coal. The travellers intend to sell off the loot on their way through the borderless steppes of inner Russia. As a parallel to the main plot, sequences of a mysterious travelling circus keep reappearing in a very suggestive way. Many of the odd artists at the circus are people that the four protagonists encounter in the wilderness along the overgrown railway. All through the movie there is a sensation of magic crossed with pure realism, stressed by the crackling communistic infrastructure and a twisted sense of humor. The border between reality and fantasy is very subtle here. The Railway is a story about strong family ties, but also an ambitious interpretation of the clash between the Russia of old and new. One could call it the rebirth of a long forgotten genre: the Russian wonder story.
Dialogue Timeline — 604 lines
A SAMPLE ACROSS THE RUNTIME — EVERY LINE IS SEARCHABLE
00:01:37 Federal Agency on Culture and Cinematography
00:04:24 He shouldn't go to the ordinary school anyway.
00:06:37 What?
00:09:29 And about what we are going to listen today?
00:14:50 Idea #1: Searching for treasures.
00:17:51 And what about Mishka?
00:21:22 Is somebody survived, they became wild.
00:28:01 She wants to breathe, but there is nothing to.
00:31:20 Work for an artel.
00:35:16 Do you know, Mishka, there is a road which drivers are afraid of.
00:39:15 No, only a coal.
00:42:00 Then 16.
00:46:21 We are still having plenty of coal.
00:49:20 Or in non-cash payment.
00:54:36 If we'll not sell somewhat, it'll be useful for school.
00:57:18 What is your name?
00:59:56 And "Strength" started to ride the fields and shower the locust by chemistry.
01:05:27 So, one sewing machine, one book about housekeeping
01:07:02 But he... smashed her.
01:11:02 Yeah, hens are rising in price.
01:14:23 The dog, of course, not me.
01:17:12 We are robbers by no means, let's work.
01:25:12 Where are your parents?
01:39:24 And mother came back to us. - Mishka, sonny.