Stations

Stations

 William D. MACGILLIVRAY's critically praised but seldom seen debut feature, Stations (1983), is a quiet, meditative "rail movie." It penetrates the odd combination of displacement and roots that constitutes, for many Canadians, a kind of identity. Stations is an absorbing examination of distinctly Canadian angst and the modes by which our culture expresses it.

When Tom Murphy (played by director Mike Jones) learns of a friend's suicide back home in St. John's, Newfoundland, he travels to the funeral by train. He uses Via Rail to travel across the country, boarding the train in Vancouver, where he works as a successful television journalist, and finishing his journey in St. John's. His boss asks him to produce a documentary record of his pan-Canadian odyssey. As he travels, Murphy not only interviews his fellow passengers, but also begins to take stock of his own life.

What Tom encounters on his trip points to a way out of the dilemma that he feels in his life. Gradually, as he gets closer and closer to home, his life and what is important to him become clearer and their value is confirmed in the final homecoming.