The Finishing Line
1977 · Directed by John Krish · UK
The Finishing Line (1977) was commissioned by British Transport Films and directed by John Krish. Not strictly a public information film, it has all the aspects you would expect from this type of film. It opens with an authoritative voice saying, “The railway is not the place for games, the railway is not the games field.”
A young boy perched on a bridge over the train track imagines what a sports day would look like on the railway track. What follows is a dramatisation of his thoughts: brass bands, a scoreboard, marquees, a gathered crowd, a PA system and children divided into four coloured teams.
The games begin and the horror unfolds in graphic detail. Children are left on the track to be run over by an approaching train. Rocks are hurled through train windows, and passengers and a driver are bleeding from their heads after being struck by the rocks. Teams of children have to cross the line as a speeding train approaches. “Just run when the train comes, do as I say,” a team leader barks to his peers. More casualties are stretchered away after each game; the number of dead is adding up.
Finally comes the Great Tunnel Walk: “3 miles of dark, smelly tunnel and once you are in, there is no turning back.” Three children emerge at the other end, bloody and crippled. They are the lucky winners. Adults bring out the rest, all dead, over shoulders and in arms. The dead children are laid out on the train track. There are scores of them, their white sports kit stained with blood. The brass band plays a solemn lament, and the film closes with the authoritative voice of the school headteacher once again reminding the viewer that railways are not for games.
The Finishing Line was shown on British television on several occasions. It proved so controversial it was banned for twenty years. The ban was eventually lifted in 1997. It remains a difficult watch but also a stark reminder of the dangers of playing near and on a railway line.
Watch The Finishing Line on BFI Player.
