blackbeard

Railway Children, The (2000) IMDB rating: 7.30 Plot: The film opens in a happy, comfortable upper middle-class home in Victorian London. One night the three children see their father usher two strangers into his study. After an argument he leaves with them and does not return. They and their mother fall on hard times and eventually move to a cottage in the country. Yet they keep their spirits up and find ways to help others. Fascinated by the nearby railroad, they wave to the passengers faithfully every day, and their vigilance and courage prevent an accident. Their kindness makes friends of some important people who can help solve the mystery of their missing father.

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Actors: Blumenau Jack,Kitchen Michael,Fisher Gregor,Russell Clive,Attenborough Richard,Bamber David,Gain Ian,Family,

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A psychological question?
There are two railway track and one of them is abandoned and the other is a service line. One child is playing on the track which is abandoned. She knew it is an abandoned one and decided to play there assuming it is safe. A group of children are playing in the service line. They knew it is dangerous to play but decided to play since no train was nearby. In due course a train arrives and the children in their play mood are not aware of it. The lines man on seeing this decides to save the group of children by diverting the train to the abandoned line thus killing the child playing there.
Do you think that is the correct decision to make, since several children were saved and only one was killed?

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An Interesting dilemma. In the situation described above if the decision of going into the abandoned track was taken by the engine driver then it may be ok since he may not know the full story and he wanted to save more children. But if the decision was taken by the linesman then it is wrong since he is fully aware of the full story and he should not have punished the law abiding child. Also he is putting a lot of people in peril because the train when it goes into an abandoned line may crash and a lot of people may die.
But in real life situation people do make decisions like this and make innocent suffer. We must have a yard stick to take decision which will protect not the majority but the correct people. Thanks for the question it really did make me think.

Harmony19 | Oct 07, 2009

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Good question! No, I don’t think it was the right thing to do. Those kids KNEW they were playing on the service line, therefore they were taking the risk that a train would come. The little girl knew she was playing on the abandoned track, and that her possibilty of getting hit was not as great. However, we all know and those parents are ultimately at fault for not instructing the dangers or knowing what/where their kids are . Either way, he could not have predicted that outcome, but I think that should he have seen kids playing on the railways -abandoned or in service, he should have told them to take it somewhere else and not played God.
DrSoapMonkey | Oct 06, 2009

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there is no ‘correct’ decision here, the options the driver has are equally tragic. but the driver had to think really fast, and when one has to do that, an obvious thing is to judge by the number. it’s the impulse to save as many as possible. who is to know what that one little girl would have become if she was the one to be saved. maybe she was an orphan wondering about the streets that nobody will even look for, maybe she was the only child of a family and she was dearly loved, maybe in growing up she would have discovered the cure for cancer or aids, or maybe her tragic death will cause her family such great pain that they will all get sick and die. who is to know? and by the same token, who knows what will become of each of the saved kids. maybe one of them will become a killer, maybe another will never get over the accident and never be well again. This is all to say that when we are dealing with not just human beings but animals too it is not a good idea to judge by the number.
Suki | Oct 06, 2009