Train Dreams

Robert watches white loggers take a Chinese worker and kill him without naming a reason. The narrator recalls Chinese families being forced out of town, and the dead worker returns in Robert’s memories. A black man kills a white worker who murdered his brother because of his race. Gladys begins her relationship with Robert, and Claire works alone at a forest lookout in a job praised as unusually brave for a woman.

Town officials force Chinese families out, and a mob kills a Chinese railroad worker. Robert questions the killing, and the worker stays in his memories. Edgerton and Kwedar link the story to the current treatment of immigrants.

The novella shows Claire as a widowed mother traveling with two children. The film makes her a Forest Service worker who lives alone at a fire lookout. A letter praises her for lacking the timidity expected of women. The film gives this secondary character a traditionally male work role.

Movieguide called the film’s racial scenes politically correct anti-Christian history. Picturesuite Studios accused it of using deportation and race stories to push woke propaganda. Small X accounts objected to the deportation narration and Claire’s fire lookout job.

Clint Bentley’s stored score is 26, and his profile lists no woke history. Greg Kwedar’s stored score is 36, and his past work focused on people in prison and equal pay. Avy Kaufman’s stored score is 46, based on casting for queer-focused and identity-driven stories. Most listed producers have scores from 24 to 32 or no stored woke history.