“Off the Rails” is opening at 5:15 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center. “Moonlight” continues to play at the Ross. Both films are played through Dec. 8.
“Off the Rails,” by Adam Irving is a highly entertaining story that mixes thrills, comedy and drama. It tells the remarkable true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger’s syndrome whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail 32 times for impersonating New York City bus drivers and subway conductors and driving their routes.
As a boy in Queens, New York, Darius found sanctuary from school bullies in the subway. There he befriended transit workers who taught him to drive trains. By age 8, he memorized the entire subway system. At 15, he drove a packed train 8 stops by himself, making all the stops and announcements. Over the next three decades, Darius commandeered hundreds of trains and buses, staying en route and on schedule, without ever getting paid. He attended transit worker union meetings, lobbying for better pay and working conditions for a union he didn’t belong to.
Although Darius has never damaged any property or hurt anyone in his decades of service, he has spent 23 years in maximum-security prison. Darius’ recidivism embodies the criminal justice system’s failure to channel the passions of a harmless, mentally challenged man into a productive career and purposeful life.
Also continuing to show at the Ross is “Moonlight,” a timeless story of human connection and self-discovery by Barry Jenkins. The film chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood as he struggles to find his place in the world.
For more information and show times, click here or call the film information line at 402-472-5353.
