Tribute or trauma for movie viewers
Source: Xinhua |
July 14, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DIRECTOR Feng Xiaogang brought his latest film "Aftershock" to Tangshan for its world premiere on Monday, but residents of the city scarred by the devastating earthquake 34 years ago had mixed feelings about "reliving" the catastrophe.
More than 240,000 people perished when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the north China city on July 28, 1976.
Though assured by audiences at test screenings in other Chinese cities, the 52-year-old director was still nervous ahead of Monday's premiere.
"I am looking forward to, but also nervous about the premiere because how the Tangshan people feel about this film will mean a lot to us," said Feng.
The 1976 quake is believed to be one of the deadliest natural disasters of the 20th century.
Some survivors believe the film is a proper tribute to the dead, others fear the experience will revive old traumas.
Liu Qiubin, 35, was only a year old when he lost all seven members of his uncle's family to the quake.
"I was too young to have any memory of the earthquake itself, but I do remember that we lived in tents for a long time," said the Tangshan car-wash attendant.
"I am expecting to see through my own eyes what happened then and to feel the fear and pain Tangshan went through, as a way to show my respect to people who died and to the scar in every Tangshan person's heart," he said.
Feng focuses on the aftermath through the story of a mother's three-decade journey to an emotional reunion with the daughter she thought she had lost in the disaster.
The mother, played by Feng's wife, Xu Fan, had to make a choice between saving her daughter or her son and she picked the boy, after which the daughter, saved by her foster parents, held a grudge against her mother for 32 years.
"My wife could not stop weeping when she saw the little girl waking up surrounded by bodies in the preview. We won't see the movie. It will be so painful," said Li Changjun, 62, who lost his two-year-old child in the quake.
The movie, due for international release on July 22, is also expected to revive memories of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and this year's Qinghai disaster.
More than 240,000 people perished when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the north China city on July 28, 1976.
Though assured by audiences at test screenings in other Chinese cities, the 52-year-old director was still nervous ahead of Monday's premiere.
"I am looking forward to, but also nervous about the premiere because how the Tangshan people feel about this film will mean a lot to us," said Feng.
The 1976 quake is believed to be one of the deadliest natural disasters of the 20th century.
Some survivors believe the film is a proper tribute to the dead, others fear the experience will revive old traumas.
Liu Qiubin, 35, was only a year old when he lost all seven members of his uncle's family to the quake.
"I was too young to have any memory of the earthquake itself, but I do remember that we lived in tents for a long time," said the Tangshan car-wash attendant.
"I am expecting to see through my own eyes what happened then and to feel the fear and pain Tangshan went through, as a way to show my respect to people who died and to the scar in every Tangshan person's heart," he said.
Feng focuses on the aftermath through the story of a mother's three-decade journey to an emotional reunion with the daughter she thought she had lost in the disaster.
The mother, played by Feng's wife, Xu Fan, had to make a choice between saving her daughter or her son and she picked the boy, after which the daughter, saved by her foster parents, held a grudge against her mother for 32 years.
"My wife could not stop weeping when she saw the little girl waking up surrounded by bodies in the preview. We won't see the movie. It will be so painful," said Li Changjun, 62, who lost his two-year-old child in the quake.
The movie, due for international release on July 22, is also expected to revive memories of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and this year's Qinghai disaster.
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