OPINION: A river that will always flow

Attending the Refocus Film Festival allowed me to watch a few movies earlier than their official release. In the case of “Train Dreams,” I was able to catch the movie before it hits Netflix.

“Train Dreams,” an adaptation of a novella by Denis Johnson (a University of Iowa grad, what a surprise), was my favorite film of the festival. Being able to catch a movie like this in a theater of fellow film nerds is magical, especially with the bittersweet knowledge this movie will be sentenced to the streaming service dungeon.

Another quality entry in the saddest-man-of-all-time film canon, “Train Dreams” could have gotten lost in melodramatic hermitry and Joel Edgerton’s hairy mug. Instead, the movie finds itself wrapped with contemplation about everything related to life itself.

Never mind the fact that Edgerton’s Robert Grainer has enough tragedy throughout his life to the point he believes the Earth itself is taking revenge on him. For you see, “Train Dreams” realizes if a man is nothing, then he is undoubtedly boring.

Instead, a slow-burn examination of a mid-20th century man, who seemed to have grown out of the forest ground, focuses early on the ensemble around Robert, from his treasured family to the macho men of his logging company. What eventually emerges from these woods is a portrait about everything we’ve done to the Earth and the uncaring cruelty it can spit back at us.

Robert’s family, ever far away but a constant reminder to continue survival, have given him a higher purpose. When his wife, Gladys (played spectacularly by an ever-satisfactory performance by Felicity Jones), says “Robert,” it sounds better. Robert was never meant to be more than a man in the woods. Yet, even if only in the rarest moments, he’s watching his daughter, Kate, grow up into someone new.

I’d wish the narration, although played excellently by Will Patton, wasn’t so overbearing. With such powerful visual language on display, especially through what appears to be a beautiful replication of a Terrence Malick-esque style of natural filmmaking (with real babies and dogs, worth the watch alone), the narration spelling things out can be a little too obvious, no matter how strong the poetry.

I’ve thought a lot about the funny title. If you don’t mind a freshman-level discussion about what the title could mean, I find that the dichotomy between the heavy locomotion mechanism of “Train” has a fascinating mix with the ethereal naturalistic ideas of “Dreams.”

It’s a beautiful title for this movie in particular as the natural world’s new goal of destroying Robert is sparked by technological destruction. The logging company and the naive Minnesotans believe there are enough trees in these mountains to last thousands of years. The new railroad built on top of literal bodies is a monument to the dedication of the exhausted laborers. A decade later, it has already been outclassed by a nearby highway.

Incited in a moment when “Train Dreams” appears shockingly close to our reality when an immigrant is uncaringly obliterated, Robert finds himself haunted by his indecision. It’s probably easy for a man like him to forget, but as this curse seems to inflict more and more trauma around him (which seems to be closing the distance on when it will eventually come for himself), he cries out. Why him? Will this cruelty ever be enough?

The halfway point, filmed to be one of the most stomach-churning realizations of the year, completely changes the movie. And it’s beautiful, as everything afterwards allows for the sort of quiet contemplation which can only come from truly taking the time to process everything. Because, when the world takes, how could we ever move on?

A river will carve a path through anything it flows over. It will sink into the ground, eroding the soil over and over. Thousands of years from now, you (well, maybe not you-you) might be able to look down a mile-deep canyon at a small river that still runs. If a rock is thrown into that river, it might be taken farther than what could have ever been imagined.

The two-handled saws which would take hours to cut a log will be replaced by chainsaws which can do the same task in seconds and with less manpower. The trains we use for transportation might one day lift off the ground into the sky. A man will one day look down on the Earth from beyond the atmosphere.

And yet, the Earth will remain. It will fight back, throw flames and barrage what life remains in rain and sleet. The ground will freeze over and then melt to drown the world in flooding. A man walking under a tree could feel the cruelty of a branch snapping off just to kill him.

Or maybe, he’s unlucky. Maybe it’s fate, or even just an accident. If there was a reason, we might never truly know it.

If a man could look down at the Earth, from a bird’s eye view or even higher, what would that mean? Has he conquered Earth? Has he taunted the laws of nature? Or maybe he can truly see the majesty of a world that will live beyond him.

When “Train Dreams” releases on Netflix Nov. 21, I highly recommend checking it out. I’m giddy to watch it again.