The Train tells a humane, disturbing story, yet it leaves the viewer to decide what to make of what transpires. Can inanimate objects, however irreplaceable and valuable and beautiful, bear the cost of human life? How do you ask people to sacrifice their lives for pretty pictures? The French characters in The Train aren’t interested in the paintings’ financial or artistic worth but, rather, in the art’s representation of “the glory of France.” How does one distinguish between French masterpieces and France itself? Don’t, say, Manet and Matisse, define France to its populace and the world? The paintings are symbols of what the French are fighting for: to retain their national identity—their past, their pride, their very soul—from those who would pilfer it. The Train grapples with these issues without dispensing pat answers.

excerpted from John DiLeo’s
Screen Savers: 40 Remarkable Movies Awaiting Rediscovery
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