Train Dreams2025

By all modern measurements of success, Robert Graniers’ life was a waste.  He died alone, unknown, with no family. His contributions to society completely invisible and eventually made obsolete. He was no artist or poet. He never owned his own business or made a lot of money. He never even saw the ocean. And at the end, there was no one to bury him, and his body and his home were forgotten and reclaimed by nature.  And yet… he lived.  I have been seeing a lot of movies lately that praise the simplicity of living, the joy of existence, and appreciation for the little things. This is a message that I specifically need to hear, and one this movie conveys better than probably any other. Every aspect of the film, not just the plot but the cinematography, the color, the earthiness of the world it depicts, all speaks to that message.  “In the forest every least things important. It’s all threaded together, so you can’t tell where one thing ends and another begins if you really look at it. The little insects you can’t even see, they play a role as vital as the river. The dead tree is as important as the living one.“ We live in a world that seems determined to drive us apart like never before, pointing out our differences instead of our similarities, and these movies that praise living for its own sake are sorely needed. There are definitely movies that convey this in a more positive and hopeful way, but maybe none that ring so true.  This is a man with nothing, and his life is as beautiful and important as anyone else’s. And that’s true for me, and it’s true for you.