so long, my son…

Today, I saw what will almost certainly be my film of the year at the Watershed: Xiaoshuai Wang’s “So Long, My Son”. It’s a wrenching family saga spanning three decades that highlights the emotional history and trauma of China’s one-child policy (which wasn't fully abandoned until 2015) and the Cultural Revolution. A couple’s young son dies suddenly in a tragic accident. Their lives are understandably shattered, but their pain is made even worse by the memory of the mother having been pregnant (while their son was still alive) with a second ‘illicit’ child and being forced to have an abortion by the authorities. The actors playing the parts of the couple, Yaojun (Wang Jingchun) and Liyun (Yong Mei) are absolutely brilliant – both incredibly moving performances.

Their best friends are fellow factory workers (and they also have a son - who witnessed the death of Yaojun and Liyun’s son’s death), but the wife, a party-zealot, is actually the person responsible for dragging Liyun off to the hospital for the abortion.

The grieving Yaojun and Liyun end up leaving their factory jobs and moving away from their friends to a remote coastal town…
I don’t want give away too much of the storyline, so I think I’ll leave it there.

In simple terms, the film provides an incredibly powerful and poignant commentary on China’s one-child policy and on the Cultural Revolution itself – the latter of which is highlighted towards the end of the film when Yaojun and Liyun return to their hometown (which in the intervening time has been transformed by glitzy new high-rise buildings and advertising hoardings of the western world). There’s a strong sense of injustice and the growing rift between the rich and the poor… and also a sense that people have been somewhat overwhelmed by the speed of change (and maybe even a nostalgic desire to want to ‘turn back the clock’).

It’s a very long film (3hours 5mins – my second ‘over-3 hours’ film in less than a month!) – but absolutely justified in my view, given the 1980s to the present day time period. It’s also a film which ‘unfolds’ – it took me some time to appreciate that the story wasn’t being told in a linear or chronological way, but more by way of flashbacks and ‘flashforwards’ (and done very effectively too).

I thought the film was simply stunning. The performances; the poetry; the pace; the cinematography; the direction… and, of course, the story itself.
An inspiring masterpiece.
PS: On a lighter note, the Watershed has a noticeboard for 'audience postcard comment' on the films its screening. Given that the film IS very long (just over 3hours) and, bearing in mind its title, I thought the scrawled "So Long..." comment was quite funny!