Catching Out @ Babylon Art & Cultural Center
Wednesday 07 August @ 10:12:55 |
 by Elise Bonner
In a mind-blowing debut, “Catching Out” (a term designated for the act of hopping trains) ensnares the viewer by engaging all five senses through gorgeous cinematography, whistling trains interlaced with a fitting soundtrack, ice-cold nights and hard steel freights, fresh, mountain air buffeting any rider at 63 miles per hour across country, and the insatiable taste for adventure.
As a piece of fiction, this film would have been dismissed as an over-romanticized perspective of a struggling minority. Completely the opposite, this documentary exposes a thriving sub-culture trying to break away from the American dream, finding that “what matters is what the railroad thinks.” Living in constant pursuit of fun, freedom, and independence, these trainhoppers speed from the train’s speed, dance the train dance when safety is granted, and find other “hobo philosophers” in the freight yard.
“Catching Out” follows four trainhoppers through the 7 years of filming, watching each grow and adjust back into society or the complete opposite, leaving it even further behind. In 1995 after her first ride, director Sarah George became an avid rider, now having traveled over 10,000 miles by freight. George hopes “the film will offer a glimpse into [the trainhopping] mutiny where freedom is valued over material wealth.” Engaging from the first scene through the last, this documentary could easily have added another 12 hours in length, not only as a result of the romantic topic, but also by having indulged every human’s voyeuristic predisposition.
“Catching Out” will be shown once in the Twin Cities this coming Tues., Aug. 13, at 8 p.m. at Babylon Café, 1624 East Lake Street, 612-722-5438.M/i>
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