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Documentary film tugs at the heartstrings
By Xu Wenwen |
April 23, 2013, Tuesday
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IN a remote village a woman in her 90s was abused by her son and daughter-in-law. The woman would look to the sky each day and ask, "Why I am still alive?"
The abuse of elderly people is so common in this village in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, that nobody considers it a serious problem. That is until 26-year-old filmmaker Shen Hanzhang discovered the woman's story and made the documentary "Why Am I Still Alive."
The film has won a national finalist of the Student Academy Award in 2012, and is the winner of Best Shorts Film Festival in 2012. It has also been officially entered in the White Sands International Film Festival and New York City Independent Film Festival.
"It's not a Chinese problem, nor an American problem, it is a common problem worldwide," says the young filmmaker, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, New York, with an MFA in social documentary film, who is now based in New York.
"And the film is not to tell people to blame the old woman's children, but to evoke people to examine themselves," Shen adds.
The story takes place in a very remote and poor village in Jinyun County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, and Shen, a Hangzhou native, happened to visit there six years ago.
She was studying broadcasting editing at Zhejiang University of Media and Communication at the time and was planning an investigative documentary about women still alive today who had their feet bound decades ago. The practice was an old Chinese custom where young girls had their feet bound to prevent further growth so they would look sexier when walking.
But soon she noticed the abuse of elderly people was a more pertinent topic for a documentary.
She met several women, all in their 80s or 90s, and noticed they were mistreated by their children at home.
"I saw a blind woman in her 90s living in a room with a strong musty smell and no windows," Shen says. "She was waiting for her only meal of the day, a bowl of porridge. This scene forced me to shoot the documentary."
This woman, Zhang Ai'e, became the subject of "Why Am I Still Alive."
Zhang, who was born in 1917 and died last year, lived in a dark shabby room that could barely be called a room. Since no one talked to her, she lost her hearing gradually. She also suffered from senile dementia. Her husband died more than 50 years ago and she raised her only son on her own.
In the trailer for "Why Am I Still Alive," (which can be viewed on Shen's website www.whyamistillalive.com), Zhang sits on a wooden board, which is both her bed and table, waiting for her breakfast. On her face there are deep wrinkles, sadness and disappointment.
She only gets meals when her daughter-in-law remembers. Sometimes she only gets a bowl of rice porridge. Zhang is seen in the film saying, "Why not take me away?"
Her daughter-in-law is comparatively nicer as Zhang's son never visits his mother.
Shen shot the film over six years, visiting Zhang under the pretense she was making a movie about women with bound feet.
Perhaps Shen didn't need the cover story. People didn't hide anything in front of the camera. She captured many real scenes such as the daughter-in-law throwing rice at Zhang and locking her out of the house for hours because she once knocked something onto the floor.
"They do not think they are wrong, that is the problem," Shen says, adding Zhang couldn't be sent to a nursing home because she has a son, and the local government only sends elderly people to such facilities if they don't have any offspring.
Shen says the film was extremely difficult to make.
"I was constantly thinking 'should I help immediately, or should I shoot the reality first?' I was tortured a lot."
Since Zhang lived in a small village in the mountains, Shen and her small crew had to lug the heavy cameras long distances. Plus they had to forgo basic amenities such as baths in the summer and heating in the winter.
Shen says the saddest part was when Zhang hugged her and wept.
"I could no longer be an objective witness as I became a character in the documentary," she says.
Shen says she gave Zhang food and money during the six years of filming.
Shen was in the US when Zhang died.
The film ends with an ironic twist. Zhang's son built a luxury tomb for his mother in hopes she would protect her offspring while also proving to other villagers he was an obedient son.
"I believe that will trigger people to think more about social problems," Shen says.
Nevertheless, the film does not overly criticize the son and daughter-in-law.
"I stayed there for a long time and I understand some of their behavior and there are reasons why people do what they do," Shen adds.
Poverty, lack of education and the remote location all contribute to the abuse of elderly people by their children, the filmmaker says.
Shen's website includes some praise for "Why Am I Still Alive."
"What a beautiful, heartbreaking film. Exquisitely done, and my heart aches for the film's subject," wrote Ilene Starger, member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The abuse of elderly people is so common in this village in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, that nobody considers it a serious problem. That is until 26-year-old filmmaker Shen Hanzhang discovered the woman's story and made the documentary "Why Am I Still Alive."
The film has won a national finalist of the Student Academy Award in 2012, and is the winner of Best Shorts Film Festival in 2012. It has also been officially entered in the White Sands International Film Festival and New York City Independent Film Festival.
"It's not a Chinese problem, nor an American problem, it is a common problem worldwide," says the young filmmaker, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, New York, with an MFA in social documentary film, who is now based in New York.
"And the film is not to tell people to blame the old woman's children, but to evoke people to examine themselves," Shen adds.
The story takes place in a very remote and poor village in Jinyun County, Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, and Shen, a Hangzhou native, happened to visit there six years ago.
She was studying broadcasting editing at Zhejiang University of Media and Communication at the time and was planning an investigative documentary about women still alive today who had their feet bound decades ago. The practice was an old Chinese custom where young girls had their feet bound to prevent further growth so they would look sexier when walking.
But soon she noticed the abuse of elderly people was a more pertinent topic for a documentary.
She met several women, all in their 80s or 90s, and noticed they were mistreated by their children at home.
"I saw a blind woman in her 90s living in a room with a strong musty smell and no windows," Shen says. "She was waiting for her only meal of the day, a bowl of porridge. This scene forced me to shoot the documentary."
This woman, Zhang Ai'e, became the subject of "Why Am I Still Alive."
Zhang, who was born in 1917 and died last year, lived in a dark shabby room that could barely be called a room. Since no one talked to her, she lost her hearing gradually. She also suffered from senile dementia. Her husband died more than 50 years ago and she raised her only son on her own.
In the trailer for "Why Am I Still Alive," (which can be viewed on Shen's website www.whyamistillalive.com), Zhang sits on a wooden board, which is both her bed and table, waiting for her breakfast. On her face there are deep wrinkles, sadness and disappointment.
She only gets meals when her daughter-in-law remembers. Sometimes she only gets a bowl of rice porridge. Zhang is seen in the film saying, "Why not take me away?"
Her daughter-in-law is comparatively nicer as Zhang's son never visits his mother.
Shen shot the film over six years, visiting Zhang under the pretense she was making a movie about women with bound feet.
Perhaps Shen didn't need the cover story. People didn't hide anything in front of the camera. She captured many real scenes such as the daughter-in-law throwing rice at Zhang and locking her out of the house for hours because she once knocked something onto the floor.
"They do not think they are wrong, that is the problem," Shen says, adding Zhang couldn't be sent to a nursing home because she has a son, and the local government only sends elderly people to such facilities if they don't have any offspring.
Shen says the film was extremely difficult to make.
"I was constantly thinking 'should I help immediately, or should I shoot the reality first?' I was tortured a lot."
Since Zhang lived in a small village in the mountains, Shen and her small crew had to lug the heavy cameras long distances. Plus they had to forgo basic amenities such as baths in the summer and heating in the winter.
Shen says the saddest part was when Zhang hugged her and wept.
"I could no longer be an objective witness as I became a character in the documentary," she says.
Shen says she gave Zhang food and money during the six years of filming.
Shen was in the US when Zhang died.
The film ends with an ironic twist. Zhang's son built a luxury tomb for his mother in hopes she would protect her offspring while also proving to other villagers he was an obedient son.
"I believe that will trigger people to think more about social problems," Shen says.
Nevertheless, the film does not overly criticize the son and daughter-in-law.
"I stayed there for a long time and I understand some of their behavior and there are reasons why people do what they do," Shen adds.
Poverty, lack of education and the remote location all contribute to the abuse of elderly people by their children, the filmmaker says.
Shen's website includes some praise for "Why Am I Still Alive."
"What a beautiful, heartbreaking film. Exquisitely done, and my heart aches for the film's subject," wrote Ilene Starger, member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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