Rarely do we get to see the real lives of rural Chinese up close. The country’s PR machine – as seen in frantic action during the Olympics – mostly ensures that if anything we get the edited ‘highlights’ of what life is like in the farming communities and suburbs. But in this compelling documentary we get to peek behind the scenes – with the vast Three Gorges Dam hydroelectric project as the backdrop – and it’s by turns fascinating and heartbreaking.
The director keeps his voiceover to a minimum – letting his subjects tell their stories by simply going about the business of trying to survive in a valley which will soon be submerged almost entirely, all in the name of progress. These are tales of poverty (‘Cindy’s’ illiterate parents survive only by growing their own food), desire to fit into the barely-disguised capitalism of the new China (‘Jerry’ is money mad and cocky as hell) and the challenge of trying to be faithful to the upper government while your neighbours are being knocked about by corrupt officials for questioning their forced relocations.
Don’t see Up The Yangtze expecting a glamourised river cruise movie full of beautiful cinematography. Yes, there are moments where the scenery is stunning but they are bittersweet given what the future holds and this film is not about romance, it’s about concrete, mud, the unyielding destruction and abandonment of the old to make way for the new. You could argue that the narrative lacks balance – there is little explanation of the benefits the dam will bring – but as a snapshot of the real costs of modernization to a country with such rich traditions and heritage, this is intimate and engrossing.
