life is a Chinese film directed by Jia Zhangke
Still, life is a Chinese film directed by Jia Zhangke. The film is shot in Fengjie, a small village in China which is close to the famous three gorges dam. The three gorges, as explained in this film, is the world’s largest hydroelectric dam created out of the third largest river in China. Jia, the Chinese director of this film, has ensured to provide a very informative yet dramatic storyline of the reuniting of two different spouses Sanming and Shen. The information provided on this movie is about the side effects which came as a result of the creation of the three gorges dam upon the Chinese land. This brought demolition of various properties Fengjie village and issues such as greed for money and power arose as a form of societal change. These two spouses, both from different locations, got to witness these changes, as well as constant flooding, which was a consequence of the dams built. At the end of the movie, we find that only one couple is reunited while the other opt for having a divorce. The creativity and narrative of this film has seen it win different awards both in China and also in the United States of America. The following is an analysis of the Still life movie, which will help to critically analyze the movie hence enabling the reader to have an in-depth understanding of the film.
Storyline
The storyline of this film is about two people in search of their spouses here in this village. Han Sanming and Shen Hong both come from different countries in search of their spouses who are supposedly in this small but busy town. Sanming is a miner who left his home town to go and look for his wife, who left him sixteen years ago. During this mission, Sanming spent all of his money in order to manage to travel to Fengjie, where he would then reunite with his wife. Sheng, on the other hand, is a nurse who has traveled to Fengjie to look for his husband, who is an engineer. His husband left their hometown two years ago and has since cut off all communications with his wife. For this reason, his wife Sheng feels that Guo Bin, his husband has an affair, and therefore seeks to confront him upon meeting him.
Upon arrival to Fengjie, Sanming enquires about his wife in all local police stations, where he ends up not getting any information about her. He later heads on to his brother in law’s residential place where he is advised to work in the meantime, to be able to sustain himself as he waits for the return of his wife and daughter. Sanming manages to get himself work through his brother in law, which entails the demolishing of property. In another scene, Sheng, the nurse is seen arriving in the village in search for her husband. She is hosted by one of her husband’s friends, who then informs her that her husband is now a successful engineer within the Fengjie village. He works at the gorges dam and is also part of the demolishing company to create private land for government projects. Here, Sheng finds out that the husband is indeed having an affair with his project manager, and this breaks her heart.
Eventually, Guo Bin, who is Sheng’s husband, finally meets up with Sheng, who then confronts him on his affair. He requests for a second chance but Sheng disapproves of it and informs him that he wants to divorce him in order to be with her newly found love. On the other scene we see that Sanming and his wife reunite. However, this is long after an accident is witnessed in one of these demolishing sites around the gorges dam where Sanming’s brother is murdered in one of the projects conducted by Guo Bin in order to acquire land for real estate. During the reunion between Sanming and his wife, he learns that his daughter is unable to return since she has to work as a servant and pay off her brother’s debt. Sanming then decides to return home together with his wife, but he is then informed that to do so, he has to pay off the remaining debt of their daughter. He then agrees to this and decides to go back to their home town where he will manage to get the required money through his previous work at the mines. The movie ends as Sanming prepares for his departure to Shanxi, his home town.
Analysis Of The Movie
Jia, the director of the Still Life movie, uses the film to bring out information about Chinese history in building the three gorges. The process of building this hydroelectric dam happened for about twelve years. This was from 1994 up to 2006. The creation of this dam saw the Chinese government demolish houses and property around the designated areas where the dam was to be created. Although many jobs were created, it resulted to making thousands of people homeless. The creation of this dam brought about a vast societal change within the Fengjie city which is where this movie was filmed. The movie helps to show some of the changes that rose as a result of the creation of this dam through the lives of the two main spouses who are used as main characters throughout the movie.
The movie uses the analogy of the three gorges where every character in the film is linked to it. For example, we can identify the nurse who is in pursuit of his husband with whom they have been separated for almost two years. She later finds him working in a highly esteemed project on the three gorges area. The other main character is the miner who goes migrates from his village to find his wife, who has been away for over sixteen years now. In the process of this pursuit, he ends up working for a demolishing company, which helps to create space for the construction of the three gorges dam. Through this, we can confirm that the three gorges are a common attribute in the movie, which enlightens the viewer on some of the effects that arose during the creation of this great dam.
One of the attributes that appear from this movie is modernization. From the storyline of the movie, Jia shows different narratives and transitions from the old to the new culture. The two spouses who came from their small towns into the Fengjie city show the transition into modernization. This is seen since they are in pursuit of a better future for themselves, which they cannot get while in their small towns. For example, Guo Bin, by working in Fengjie, he has managed to achieve a successful career which he couldn’t have achieved while living in his home town. Through being an engineer, he has contributed to the development of the city, even if the methods used were of adverse effect to the people living around the area of development. In short, the movie highlights the cost of modernization and what the Chinese people went through in the course of modernization.
The three gorges dam used in this movie is one surrounded by various cultural and political concerns. One of these concerns includes the fact that millions of people became homeless as a result of the creation of this dam. As a result, this was classified as a humanitarian issue and, as a result, caused a political rivalry between the people and the people in power. Jia, in this movie, helps to highlight what some of these cases looked like. For example, the creation of the three gorges opened up different avenues for employment but also endangered the lives of many, especially those doing manual work. For example, in the third and final part of the movie, we see Sanming’s brother die from the collapse of a building while working. This is to show that the Chinese government did not provide the necessary measures in ensuring the protection of the lives of their workers. Another example can be seen whereby, during Sanming’s departure, some of his friends from Fengjie ask if they could go with him to work in the mines in his old town. He, however, assures them that, working in the mines is much difficult and riskier from the demolishing and that it is much safer and better for them if they continued working in Fengjie.
From the movie, we can tell that the culture of the people living in Fengjie is much different from the small villages where Shen and Sanming come from. This is due to their different lifestyles seen from their small towns and that of Fengjie city. Even with the creation of the three gorges dam, it shows modernization and development within the city, which is something that is not yet discovered in other small towns.
In 2006, China was already a developing country. This provides more meaning as to why Jia came up with such a movie at that time. It helped to show the world about the modernization process of China as a country and some of the real-life experiences of what some of the citizens went through. The stories highlighted throughout the movie are simply a few of the many experiences which most people have to go through from 1994 to 2006 vs. the country began its development. Issues such as divorce were already foreign to the people of China, however, we can see that happening with the nurse and her engineer husband. Other factors, such as career development, can be identified through the movie in the lives of Shen and Guo Bin.
It is clear that there is a contrast between these two main character couples, also showing the difference in time and age between them. For example, Sanming and his wife are much older and with no career. For them, their means of survival is by getting employed in doing odd jobs that have better pay. Sanming has worked as a miner all his life while his wife worked as a servant. On the other hand, Guo Bin works as a professional engineer while his wife is a qualified nurse. This couple appears to be much younger compared to that of Sanming. The unifying factor in this movie is seen whereby; Sanming, the miner, manages to get employed in one of the demolishing companies managed by Guo Bin. The unifying factor in this movie here is the three gorges dam in Fengjie.