Shaking audiences to the very core

• Source: Global Times
• [09:51 July 26 2010]
• Comments

Xu Fan as Yuanni in Aftershock. Photo: IC

By Nick Muzyczka

Aftershock, the new film by acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Feng Xiaogang, is a story based around the horrific 1976 earthquake in Tangshan, Hebei Province.

As the English title suggests, the movie concentrates on the repercussions of the event, focusing on the story of one family whose lives were ripped apart in profound and heart-wrenching ways.

Moving with a straightforward chronology, the film begins with a portrayal of the earthquake itself. The proximity of this scene to the begin-ning means that audiences do not have to suffer the usual disaster movie scenario, where the camera closely follows the main characters as they sidestep imminent death every other second. Here, as with the actual earthquake, it is just pure carnage.

Creating a realistic quake effect is notoriously difficult, though with some help from visual experts from South Korea and the post-production division of the French media company Technicolor, the director has made a solid effort.

Feng also enlisted the support of New Zealand's Weta Workshop, the Oscar-winning design company behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which provided advice on the miniature models that doubled for 1976 Tangshan.

The movie as a whole is psychologically draining, engaging the viewer throughout. Not only is it highly emotionally charged but the director has paid great attention to detail in all aspects of the film. All characters, including those with smaller roles, are fleshed out with unique personalities.

Xu Fan, wife of director Feng, is especially strong as "Yuanni," a mother of twins, widowed by the disaster. She has to choose between her children who are precariously positioned beneath the rubble. If either one is rescued the other must die. Her moving characterization exemplifies the central idea of the movie; that some pain is so deep it can permeate an entire life.

Audiences watching in IMAX cinemas will especially appreciate the landscape shots that pepper the film. There are three or four moments when the movie jumps ahead a little in time, and we are given the appropriate year in subtitles.

These moments are also accompanied by a wide-angle landscape shot of Tangshan, showing poignant moments in its reconstruction, almost like a set of photographs within the movie.

These are some of the most beautifully constructed shots in the film. Aftershock is also the first non-English language film to be shot in IMAX format.

The movie, though perhaps a little long given the heaviness of the material, is nicely paced throughout, with no excess lingering over particu-larly sad moments.

Feng even manages to include a flashback, probably the most overused filmic device, in a non-annoying manner, using a mixture of black and white and color to give a gritty, melancholy effect early on.

Humor doesn't seem to have much place in a movie like this, but it appears frequently nonetheless. Feng, well-established as a commercially successful director of comedies, constructs a number of genuinely funny moments, which bring some much-needed light relief.

Some of the jokes require some knowledge of Chinese culture (especially with respect to family life and values), though there is also much here that works on a universal level. There is a biting wittiness that is manifested at times in different characters; a form of black humor that can only arise out of the darkest tragedy.

It is hard to criticize a film for being over-the-top when is deals with an event in which more than 240,000 people died.

 The score, however, is a little overbearing at times - the subject matter in its own right is enough to affect even the hardest of viewers - so the frequent, epic-sounding violin motifs were perhaps a little excessive.

In an interesting aside, some reports have criticized Aftershock for including a number of very obvious product placements, with viewers complaining about the marketing of alcohol, a bank, insurance, a cell phone, a car and sportswear.

Aftershock is screened in Chinese with English subtitles at the city's major cinemas.