In its extraordinarily tender account of the lives of teenage freight-train
riders, Riding the Rails offers a visionary perspective on
the presumed romanticism of the road and cautionary legacy of the
Great Depression. From “middle class gentility to scrabble-ass
poor,” the undiscriminating Great Depression forced 4,000,000
Americans away from their homes and onto the tracks in search of
food and lodging. Of this number, a disturbing 250,000 of the transients
were children. Through painstaking research and with tremendous
sensitivity, the filmmakers relay the experiences and painful recollections
of these now-elderly survivors of the rails. After sifting through
three thousand letters in response to their call for memoirs from
the former teenagers, Michael Uys and Lexy Lovell have compiled
a deserving tribute to the memories and experiences of their unforgettable
subjects.
Forced to travel more by economic necessity than the spirit of adventure,
the film’s subjects dispel romantic myths of a hobo existence
and its corresponding veneer of freedom. Seamlessly interweaving
archival footage, personal photographs, and interviews, Riding
the Rails recounts the hoboes’ trade secrets for survival
and accounts of dank miseries, loneliness, imprisonment, death,
and dispossession. Sixty years later, the filmmakers transport their
subjects back to the tracks, where the surging impact of sound and
movement resuscitates memories of a shattered adolescence and devastating
rite of passage. What evolves is a heartbreaking portrait of transformation
and loss in a land of bankrupt promises and vacant opportunities.
As we learn about the astonishing post-Depression fates of the now-eighty-year-old
survivors, Riding the Rails illuminates the irrevocable repercussions
of one very bitter chapter in American history. Striking in its
detail and depth of emotion, Riding the Rails is that rare
documentary that will inform, dazzle, and move its audience to tears.
— Rebecca Yeldham
Sundance Film Festival Programmer
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Winner 18 Major
Awards Including:
Directors Guild of America - Best Documentary
Los Angeles Film Critics - Best Documentary |
The
American History Project / Out of the Blue Productions, Inc.
472 1st Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Tel: 718-369-7013
Fax: 718-369-7016
lovelluys@aol.com
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CALL 1-888-255-9231
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An unforgettable companion volume
to the award-winning documentary
RIDING THE RAILS:
TEENAGERS
ON THE MOVE DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION
By Errol Lincoln Uys
“The reader can all but
hear the cadence of the trains on the tracks and the lonesome
wail at every stop” – Chicago Tribune
“A
riveting document of hope and hardship” – Boston
Globe
“Elegantly
presented and quietly moving account of first-hand reminiscences.
Enthusiastically recommended” – Library Journal
Illustrated with fifty rare archival photos
and drawing primarily on letters and oral histories of three thousand
men and women who hopped freight trains, Riding the Rails brings to life a neglected saga of America in the 1930s. Self-reliance,
compassion, frugality and a love of freedom and country are at
the heart of the lessons these teens learned. At journey’s
end, the resiliency of these survivors is a testament to the indomitable
strength of the human spirit.
Errol Lincoln Uys is a renowned writer and
editor. He was the editor-in-chief for Reader’s Digest in South Africa, and collaborated with
James A. Michener on his South African novel, The Covenant. Uys is the author of the international best-seller, Brazil (Silver Spring Books.)
Visit the website:
www.erroluys.com |
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Screenings & Distribution Clips Reviews Making the Film Stories Credits
Riding the Rails Links |
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