“Train Dreams” honors the men and women who built the country in obscurity; the loggers and homesteaders whose labor laid the steel and timber beneath America’s rise and whose names, as William H. Macy put it, “never made the history books, but created this country.”
“I think this is a true rendition of the West,” the 75-year-old Emmy Award-winner told The Christian Post. “America came from stalwart, stoical, hardworking men and women who, under really difficult circumstances, created this country. That’s who we are, not the gun-toting fighting guy. This film gets that right.”
Set in the early decades of the 20th century, during a period of breakneck industrial expansion, the film follows Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton), a logger and railroad laborer in Idaho’s Kootenai Valley. Orphaned as a child and raised among hired crews, Grainier marries a young homesteader, Gladys (Felicity Jones), and begins building a life in the enormous forests of the Pacific Northwest.
His work, though dangerous, contributes to the vast railroad lines connecting a rapidly modernizing nation. But it also pulls him away from the family he cherishes, and a tragic turn reshapes the course of his life.
Based on Denis Johnson’s beloved novella and directed by Clint Bentley with co-writer Greg Kwedar (“Sing Sing”), the Netflix film (already an Oscar contender) features Macy and Kerry Condon, both Academy Award nominees, in supporting roles.
Macy plays Arn Peeples, a slyly humorous philosopher-laborer who becomes one of Grainier’s few friends and serves as the heart of the film. The actor, who recently appeared in the faith-based film “Soul on Fire,” described Arn as a “no-nonsense guy” with a high moral code.
“There’s only one rule that we have to worry about, and it’s a bear. But I believe in having few rules and don’t break them, as opposed to the tax code, where everybody cheats,” he said. “I think Arn’s sermon would consist of, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Thanks for coming. Don’t break this rule.’”
“It’s straightforward. You know exactly what’s right and wrong. It’s not a very nice thing to say to someone because they got no place to hide.”
Narrated by Will Patton, the film raises questions about what progress destroys, and what remains after a forest, or a family, is gone. Edgerton, who once inquired about adapting the novella himself, said he was drawn to Grainier’s way of highlighting just how extraordinary seemingly ordinary lives can be.
“There’s great dignity in an ordinary life,” Edgerton told CP. “We go to watch extraordinary people and superheroes, but I think real people are superheroes just by living a good life, especially if they lead it with honesty, kindness, and a fierce love for their family.”
Robert, he said, is a man wrestling with moral consequence, with a near-theological fear of wrongdoing: “He’s really fixated on whether a bad thing follows him. It has very religious connotations, but in a natural-world kind of way.”
As Gladys, Felicity Jones plays a frontier wife whose devotion is neither romanticized nor invisible.
“It was about understanding what she is doing when she’s not on screen,” Jones said. “Shooting, fishing, farming, she’s doing whatever she must to feed their family. It’s sacrificial love. Difficult, but beautiful.”
“So many women built communities this way,” Jones said. “Quiet, practical, faithful in the smallest things.”
Kerry Condon plays Claire, a former war nurse who offers Robert a rare gift: a place where he is not judged.
“Clint told me early on that she never judges him,” Condon said. “There had to be something safe about her that lets him open up after years of silence. … Nature is mysterious and healing. Winter brings death, but spring always returns. Grief is part of life, but nature teaches us how to hope again.”
Shot against the sweeping beauty of British Columbia and Washington state, the film is visually stunning, with towering old-growth forests and rivers winding through valley floors. Filming among massive stumps, Edgerton said the film magnified the beauty of creation and reality of Intelligent Design.
“You realize how small we are,” he said. “When you stand in epic nature, you remember you’re part of the planet, not above it. That can feel divine.”
In a cultural moment obsessed with speed, “Train Dreams” challenges viewers to slow down and remember whose backs the bridges, rails and skylines were built upon, and what was taken down to build them. Edgerton said he hopes the film inspires viewers to find beauty in the ordinary moments and meaning in both joy and pain.
“As human beings, we really try and avoid pain and suffering, and we’re always looking for solace to kind of comfort us in those moments,” Edgerton said. “One thing I’ve really seen reflected in this is how much people see the film and say, ‘I really just want to go home and embrace the people that I love.’”
“When it comes to loss and sorrow, that grief, plus time, is a reminder of the strength of love that you felt for the person that you’ve lost. I think this film just really reminds us of our core values of humanity.”
“Train Dreams” is rated PG-13 for some violence. The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
