Up the Yangtze – Pun Intended
Friday night I went to see Yung Chang’s Up the Yangtze. The documentary (co-produced by the NFB and shot under the Chinese government’s radar) follows a cruise ship…up the Yangtze River. We get a peek at “the culture of tourism and the tourism of culture” as Chang puts it. We learn about the lives of two locals, Cindy Yu and Jerry, hired to work on the boat’s crew.
The film touches on some distressing subject matter. Cindy’s family has seen the hardships of Communist rule and live in abject poverty on the shores of Yangtze and are about to be displaced by the Three Gorges Dam project which will submerge their home. Cindy’s employment on the cruise ship is her ticket out. For Jerry, who is more well-off, the cruise is a way for him to pursue his ambitions. There are heart-wrenching scenes of ‘relocatees’ protesting the lack of compensation from the government. Chang punctuates distressing moments with contemplative shots that allow the audience to make their own journey as well as more light-hearted fare. These stories find a psychological place with the audience but doesn’t overwhelm (and therefore alienate) them and that is a great beauty of the film.
Here is the trailer:
If you’re interested, see it soon! Canadian documentaries rely on opening weekend for an extended run.
[The film's homepage: UptheYangtze.com ]
Tags: edutainment, movies
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