Friday, July 10, 2015

The Iron Road 2008


Iron Road     This film takes place in 1882.  Alfred Nichol is the owner of the Nichol Railway Company and he is building a railroad line through the Canadian Rockies.  He sends his son, James Nichol to Hong Kong to find out why the company’s recruitment of Chinese laborers has not arrived to provide the manpower they need.  An orphan boy working in a fireworks factory helps James find reliable men to take back to Canada.  The boy’s name is Little Tiger in Chinese but the boy is really a girl posing as a boy to survive.  She wants to go to Canada to find her missing father and to make money for a better life.  Her job assignment is tea boy but she is able to clear debris from a tunnel that unexpectedly collapsed.  Her job is changed to working with the explosives.
     I thought this was interesting, the scenes of life in Hong Kong at this period and also the real working conditions as a railroad construction worker from another country.  The average was three Chinese workers killed for every mile of track laid.  There is an actual Gold Mountain with a remote construction camp located in the Rockies.  The men here are attempting to blast through a mountain’s core to lay the tracks. 4* (I really liked this movie)

180 min, TV Mini-Series, Drama directed by David Wu with Li Sun, Luke Macfarlane, Sam Neill, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Yun Xiang Gao, Kenneth Mitchell, Peter O’Toole, Ian Tracey, Serge Houde, Charlotte Sullivan, Zhang Nai Hua, Nigyu Zhao.

Note:  Imdb 6.8 out of 10, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 10 reviews.
Special Note:  This project was filmed jointly by China and Canada.  The film has been adapted into a novel by Anne Tait and Paulette Bourgeouis.  The release date is expected to be 10/20/15.  The train shown is a fully operational 1912 model that was modified to look like an 1880 model.









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