Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

angelsunchained Without giving away the totally surprising ending, I will say that I really was turned off by this film until the ending wrapped up everything very clearly. The acting is excellent and the basic plot is unique and very interesting. Too bad in real life, those tragic human beings slaughtered by the Nazi regime didn't come up with this idea a thousand times over. A comedy about this horrific time of the world is sometimes difficult to deal with. The people involved are not painted in a positive light, yet like I said, the ending makes everything as clear as clear can be. The film can drag at times, but the acting saves it. Not sure if this film will appeal to an overall general audience, because it can be over the top and even distasteful. I would rate the ending one of the most surprising and shocking in the history of cinema. Train of Life is the dream to escape the nightmare of the brutally of man. Thought provoking to say the least. 9 out of 10.

The_Film_Cricket There is a very fine line that you walk when you are trying to make a comedy about a subject as difficult as the holocaust. Roberto Benigni walked that line with "Life is Beautiful" and never stepped wrong. He knew how to have the trickiest balance between humor and the darkest horror man has ever known.One can imagine how Benigni could have gone wrong. But for an example there is "Train of Life", a shameful exercise in filmmaking whose premise is intriguing, whose script is embarrassing and whose ending is a kick in the face.Here is the intriguing premise: In 1941 the people of a small Jewish community become aware that Hitler is killing Jews in Europe. Fearing that they could be deported, they decide to fake their own deportation by stealing a train, making Nazi uniforms and heading for Pakistan, thereby deceiving the Nazi and saving their lives.The embarrassing script gives us a cast of cartoonish characters who spend 90% of the film squabbling. There is no tension in the scenes where the train in stopped by the Nazis because the Nazis in this film are so dimwitted that they would fall for anything! Now for the ending: The ending (which I won't give away) I suppose is supposed to be poignant or funny or touching but found it to be shameful. With so many denying that the holocaust ever happened, we don't need a film this trite. The movie takes this subject and grinds it down to a rather unfunny sitcom.

noralee Despite a really annoying audience of noisy senior citizens I got into the spirit of "Train of Life (Train de vie)" (though it was odd having the shtetl residents in a foreign-language film speak French until I realized of course in "Jakob the Liar" Robin Williams and Liev Schreiber speak English so why not in a Belgian/Romanian-produced movie wouldn't they speak French?).It has the immediate feel of the magic realism of "The Milagro Beanfields War" and it no more cheapens the Holocaust than "The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" cheapens the Civil War. It is full of the warmth and love of everyday life and personalities come sweetly to life.I thought the Fool as the Seer was getting a bit much until it's made clear he's not really the Village Idiot so no heavy-handed symbolism.(originally written 11/14/1999)

kiravi I saw this movie on Showtime, after a late night shift. Never went looking for it. I found the movie reveting.I saw some comments about "Life is Beautiful", and the comparison. A more apt comparison would be, I believe to "Fiddler on the Roof". In the same sense, perhaps not as musical though, the story seems to weave through the life and times of a community facing oncoming winds of change.In a way, with the arguments of the imitation Nazis, and the "revolutionary" communists, the pattern of life is both touchingly human, and comically sarcastic of how men are "seemingly" separated with each other.Although the Jewish communal environment seeps through the wonderful story, the later union with the gypsies who are also seeking a haven, relents to truly human and comic parody of the WWII era.