Film Review - ‘Insein Rhythm’ – The train arrives in Myanmar

‘Insein Rhythm’ – by Soe Moe Aung  -  11 minutes long.  Second screening on Friday 26 April at 13:00,at  Usine à Gaz as part of a collection of 18 short films  at the Visions du Réel film festival. Review by Trish Thalman

 "I will always be sure "

reads the sign above the Stationmaster’s desk at Insein Railway station, located in the northern suburb of Yangon. The bright orange plastic, wind-up telephones advise the stationmaster of everything he needs to know. He can be sure. In this short, very appealing film, we see a collection of quick film shots of the collective details that create everyday life at the suburban station. People of all ages in different styles of dress get onto and off of the trains, dogs rest on the station platform, line-workers hammer away at the steel rails, a woman walks between the tracks and picks up pieces of rubbish for disposal, piles of paper tickets are ready for sale, rickety old train carriages are jammed with passengers, the food vendors exchange small amounts of coins for a cool drink or a sweet roll. The anticipation and preparation for the pending arrival of the train from Yangon is tangible. There is no dialogue, other than background sounds of birds, rain, voices and the train arrival-departure announcements of the stationmaster, along with his reply to phone calls. There is a sequence of quick-paced, repetitive shots that focuses on the pickaxe of the line-workers, the stationmaster winding-up the phones to make and receive calls, and his job of arranging blocks of pre-printed tickets. These are the routine jobs, the rhythm, for the railway workers at Insein station. This is a film that reflects the excitement and daily work of the people in a country living through the current process of arriving in the modern world.