Setting
When - The movie takes place in October of 2010, from the 8th to the 11th.
Where - The movie begins in Tarragona, Spain, located on the north east coast of the country. The majority of the movie takes place on a train travelling from Tarragona to Lublin, Poland, which is located in the eastern end of Poland. The end of the movie takes place in Lublin.
Characters
Elizabeth, the Protagonist - Played by Katie Holmes, Elizabeth Howell, the main character of the movie, is a 27 year old historian who specializes in Roman culture. She is currently living and working in Tarragona, Spain in the Roman ruins in and around the city. She was born in Ottawa, Canada, and was raised there by both of her parents. Her father, the youngest son in a family of four brothers, worked as an accountant for the RBC. Her mother, an only child, was a stay at home mom, but had a passion for historical fiction novels, one she instilled in her only daughter at a very young age. Our character was close to both her mother and father, but especially close to her mother’s father, who worked and lived in Europe, but would often visit on holidays. After she attended The University of Ottawa and received her Master’s Degree in Anthropology, and began working in Europe (where she had visited on trips to her Grandfather and always loved), she continued the tradition by visiting him on holidays. The movie takes place during a trip to visit him for Thanksgiving.
Dominic, the Antagonist - Played by Russell Crowe, Dominic is a good-looking, charming man, who ends up on the same train as Elizabeth, accompanied by a very young girl, Gracie, who appears to be a daughter or niece. He is really an experienced kidnapper who has kidnapped the little girl and is trafficking her to a ‘boarding house’ in Warsaw, Poland, where she will be trained (broken), then sold to the highest bidder as a slave.
Plot
Beginning - October 8th, midday - While on lunch break, Elizabeth makes a phone call to her grandfather’s house in Lublin, and leaves a message on the answering machine giving the audience the general idea that she is visiting him for thanksgiving and leaving an impression that they are very close and have been for a long time. She then returns to the site at the Roman ruins in Tarragona where she is working, to finish her work for the day and say a farewell to her fellow employees, who are mostly close friends. After that, she heads home to do some last minute packing, then leaves for the train station. On her way to the train station, she makes a little stop at a local department store to pick up a few last minute items. Once at the train station, she picks up her Premier ticket, which includes a room all to herself on the train. She then boards the train, only minutes before it’s departure time at 8:00, and gets settled into her room, Room 4. Once settled, she heads to the dining car to eat supper. On her way back to her room, she runs into a man who seems to be a couple years older than her. He introduces himself as Dominic, and is accompanied by a young girl, who he introduces as his Gracie, his niece. Elizabeth has a pleasant conversation with Dominic, but Gracie is very quiet, and doesn’t even look her in the eye until they part ways, when she gives her a frightened glance. During the conversation, she learns that the two are staying in the room next to her’s, Room 3. She then returns to her room, where she realizes that she forgot her cell phone charger at home, and her cell phone has just run out of batteries.
Middle - About 30 minutes after the first encounter with the Dominic, she leaves her room to seek an attendant for a hand towel, as there wasn’t one in her bathroom, and she only has 15 minutes until the train locks up for the night. On the way past Room 3, she overhears Dominic on the phone, and catches the word ‘kidnapping’. She stops to listen, and learns that Gracie is not his niece, but an orphan that he has kidnapped and is taking to Warsaw, Poland to sell to a slave trader. During the conversation, Elizabeth gasps, or drops something, or otherwise makes a noise that alerts Dominic to her presence. She darts into her room, but as she’s closing the door behind her, he looks out and spots the door closing.
Now aware of the fact that he’s trafficking Gracie, the Elizabeth instinctively goes to call the police on her phone, but is reminded that it is out of power. Also, it is now nighttime, so the attendants are in the employee car, and each car is locked. The car that her room is on consists only of Passengers Rooms 1, 2, 3 and 4, and Room 1 and 2 are empty. Unaware that the Dominic knows that she listened in on the conversation, Elizabeth decides to just go to sleep and wait until morning.
However, Dominic soon comes to her door, asking if he can borrow some shampoo, as he ‘forgot’ his own. Unconvinced by his ploy, Elizabeth grabs the small, but heavy, alarm clock off of the bedside table and
hides somewhere in the room, without answering. Assuming that she’s sleeping, or at least pretending to be asleep, Dominic easily picks the lock on her door and enters the room. Upon seeing that she isn’t in her bed, he goes to check the bathroom, and she jumps out and knocks him over the head with the alarm clock. He falls to the ground, unconscious. Thinking quickly, she searches him briefly, finding a long knife strapped to his thigh. She takes the knife, a hand towel, and a few other little, miscellaneous objects from the room. Then, leaving him there, she goes to his room. Once in his room, she finds Gracie locked in the bathroom, and takes her out. She then, using a bobby pin she has, picks the locks to the two other rooms on the car. She then hides Gracie and herself in Room 2, and waits for Dominic to resume consciousness. Eventually, Dominic wakes up and goes looking for Elizabeth and Gracie, after he’s realized that the latter is no longer trapped in the bathroom. A suspenseful game of cat and mouse follows, during which Elizabeth leads the man around the car, through the different rooms, trying her best to keep him from the little girl in Room 2. However, he realizes that the one room she never leads him into, Room 2, must be the one in which Gracie is hiding. He searches it, and finds her. He then waits in the room for Elizabeth to come to him. Eventually, Elizabeth goes to Room 2 to check on Gracie, and there’s a fight scene, during which Elizabeth gets injured, but manages to trick, and knock out Dominic once again. This time, she realizes that she should tie him up, and proceeds to do so, leaving him in the bathtub of Room 2.
End - In the morning, she pretends that all is well, as she can’t prove anything about Dominic, or even that Gracie isn’t really his niece. She instructs Gracie to leave the train at the next stop, in Warsaw, and meet her in the station. This happens, and she purchases two new tickets and they board a different train to Lublin. They arrive in Lublin a few hours later, and Elizabeth immediately heads to her grandfather’s house. However, she has forgotten that she told Dominic, during their first conversation, that she is visiting her grandfather who lives in the Old Town district of Lublin. There, she runs into Dominic, who freed himself on the train between Warsaw and Lublin, and was waiting for her in Old Town. There is a final confrontation, during which Elizabeth leads Dominic on a chase through the Old Town district, and eventually kills him by leading him in front of a train. Then she takes Gracie to her grandfather’s house, and tells him about everything that has happened. The grandfather calls the police, and asks for someone to come pick up Gracie and arrange for transportation back to Barcelona, her hometown. While they wait for the police to arrive, the three of them share a thanksgiving dinner.
Mood
The movie has a suspenseful mood, and would likely be classified as a ‘Thriller’. The style of the movie is very important to the mood. The entirety of the movie that takes place on the original train (which is the majority), is shown is a series of short video clips, that have abrupt transitions and leave out little parts of the plot here and there, and have an intended effect of suspense, mystery and fear on the audience’s part. The rest of the movie (that doesn’t take place on the train) is filmed in a much more calm, regular manner, with smooth transitions between shots and, apart from the ‘action sequence’ in Lublin, focusses on scenery and atmosphere.
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