Asian Film Review: 'Aftershock' (唐山大地)

Just got back from watching Feng Xiaogang's latest film 'Aftershock'... a real emotionally heavy piece about a family that survives the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976 that killed at least 240,000 people (some estimates put the number closer to 600,000 though!)

The Chinese title for the film is '唐山大地',  literally 'Tang Shan Great Earthquake',  but the English title is actually more accurate.  This film is not a disaster film about the earthquake itself, but rather about how this traumatic experience affected the lives of a family caught in the middle of it. 

A young couple with twin children is caught in the quake and the father dies and the mother survives,  saving her son but thinking that her daughter is dead.  The film follows the life of both children and the surviving mother who's life is still shaped by the disaster decades later.

the disaster part of the film is really only about 20 minutes.  the remainder is split between later in 1976, ten years later in 1986,  1995 and finally the present (in this case, the very similar 2008 Sichuan earthquake is used to draw parallels in the lives of the characters).

Those familiar with Chinese modern history will be aware that China changed a LOT between those periods, and this is reflected in the film.

They even include a few seminal historical events that all Chinese alive at the time will remember, including the death of Mao.

Zhang Jingchu plays the adult version of the daughter, who's adoptive parents are in the PLA.

Being a state sanctioned Mainland film,  you can expect that the portrayal of the government's handling of these earthquakes are nothing but positive.  But despite this,  as a history buff I still found the recreation of 1970's China to be very interesting.

There's at least a few points where the cynic in me couldn't help but groan...  most of all, I found the 2008 Sichuan connection to be a weak plot device that the film would have been much better without.

Despite the extremely heavy subject matter (i think its hard to have a dry eye through the whole film), it is well made and (for the most part) well acted.  Chen Daoming does a great job as the adoptive father and Feng Xiaogang's wife Xu Fan plays the mother relatively well. (The notable exception is the random white guy they have towards the end who was horrible, horrible!  Can't find a white guy in Vancouver who can act?!?)

I'm no expert in film, but Aftershock reminded me a bit of 'To Live' (活著) and a bit more esoteric, 1988's 'Chun Tao' ( 春桃).

Anyway, if you can handle 'heavy' movies with lots of emotion and melodrama,  I recommend this film.  I'll give it a 7/10,  your experience may vary!