photo, courtesy of Visions du Réel 2009

Nyon film festival 2009

by Jillian Hudson

Yu Guangyi’s documentary “Survival Song” is a shockingly candid view into the lives of a Chinese working class family who has been forced to live in poverty and misery in the name of a new and modern China.

The main character, Liao Han, is a 47-year-old man with a college education who lost his job as a forest warden, his home, and his land when the government decided to create a reservoir in place of the forest. He received no compensation for these losses and moved into an abandoned shed in the mountainous region of Changbai. This highly skilled forestry expert spends his days herding goats and poaching boars in order to survive and to provide for his family.

The film is a very honest portrayal of the family’s struggle to make the best of a hopeless situation. The characters are not made out to be heroic and the situation is far from poetic. There is little optimism for a brighter future and a great deal of resentment towards the government oozes between the lines. The viewer really feels the quiet drudgery of the day-to-day lives of these people who live on the fringes of society.

There is comic relief in this rather dark and desperate film in the form of Liao’s brother Xiao. Xiao loves to sing and dance in the filth of his shed behind his brother’s home and to spy on his brother’s wife while she uses the outhouse. He’s not a happy character, but he is full of odd behavior and random outbursts of joy.

Overall I found “Survival Song” to be a successful look into the intimacy of a family forgotten by its country and grasping to remain human in an inhumane world.

Visions du réel, Nyon documentary film festival, web site

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