The Children’s Train 2024 Movie Review
In 1946, the Second World War is over and people are beginning to rebuild their lives and find a way to live. But the traces of devastation are everywhere, and many people live in poverty. The situation is particularly difficult in the south of the country. For this reason, Antonietta ( Serena Rossi ) decides, with a heavy heart, to send her seven-year-old son Amerigo ( Christian Cervone ) to the north, where he is to spend the winter with Derna ( Barbara Ronchi ). The boy has not yet left his homeland and has not seen anything of the world. Above all, he is not used to being separated from his mother. He also finds it difficult to say goodbye, although Derna does everything she can to make Amerigo feel comfortable with her and to ensure that he lacks nothing. She has no idea that she will change his life forever…
It’s nothing new that things get more emotional on Netflix towards the end of the year . After all, that’s when audiences like big emotions. Most of the time, it ends up being harmless romantic comedies with Christmas decorations and festively decorated cotton candy. This year, however, the streaming service is also releasing a number of titles that are a lot harder. There was Let It Go , about a family falling apart that has to come together for a pole dancing competition. Joy dealt with the topics of unfulfilled desire to have children and three people who want to change that. And then, of course, there was The Snow Sister , which was about a family that has to come to terms with the death of one of its children. If you’re in the mood for even more heavy emotions after all that drama, there’s now a new film , A Train Full of Hope .
The Italian film has a template, or rather two. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Viola Ardone , who celebrated her breakthrough with it in 2019. The author drew on true events. The “treni della felicità” initiative was launched in 1945 and was intended to give children from poor backgrounds a better life by bringing them to families in the wealthier north. Around 70,000 children were transported in this way by 1952. Most of them returned home after a while. But some stayed. A Train Full of Hope takes up this topic and illustrates it using a fictional individual fate.
This is of course intended to represent the entire project and pose very universal questions. It is about what actually makes a family. When Antonietta entrusts her son to a stranger in A Train Full of Hope , she does so with the intention of giving him a better life. But is that better? What is more important, good care and the violin, which Amerigo can learn in this way, or being close to his mother? It is also about letting go and giving up, without the drama becoming too fixated on what the right answer is. Both decisions have consequences, both good and bad, which are difficult to weigh up against each other.
So there is certainly some food for thought here. But above all, the audience is meant to be deeply moved. In principle, that works. The story of a boy who discovers a new family but becomes estranged from his old one is enough to elicit a tear or two. But director Cristina Comencini is not particularly subtle. She applies it a little more forcefully to get to the point. At times, A Train Full of Hope is a little more naturalistic when it comes to portraying everyday life. But the key moments go a lot further than was really necessary, turning the history lesson into a tearjerker. Anyone who is receptive to that, at this time of year or even during the year, will be well served. But this form of manipulation was not really necessary.
“A Train Full of Hope” tells the story of a boy from a poor background who is supposed to spend the winter with a strange woman who can take better care of him. The adaptation of the novel of the same name addresses difficult topics and asks some questions about family. It is worth watching, even if it sometimes becomes manipulative when it is desperate to generate strong emotions.
