Railway Sleepers

Shot between 2008 and 2016, “on every operating railway route in Thailand” (according to the title card that closes out the film), Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s directorial debut closely observes a cross-section of life and activity in the railway cars that criss-cross the country. The documentary’s subject matter and formal approach is almost identical to J.P. Sniadecki’s recent anthropological observation of China’s railway network and its passengers, The Iron Ministry (2014). But in parsing their similarities, illustrative differences emerge: Sniadecki works with a handheld camera and a subdued visual palette, and occasionally interacts with his subjects. Chidgasornpongse remains stoic, by contrast, never questioning the railway passengers. His locked-off camera watches on, capturing all of the colour and movement of Thai society.