In
this campaign documentary, would be candidate Jia Zhitan will serve as his own
Charles Drew. Unfortunately, instead of documenting the start of his political
career, he winds up exposing the undemocratic nature of the Chinese Communist
Party’s sham democracy. While Jia will not fulfill his ambitions, at least he
will put a lot of bureaucrats on the spot in I Want to Be a People’s Representative, which screens as part of
Cinema on the Edge, the retrospective tribute to the Beijing Independent Film
Festival.
Jia
is not just a farmer. He is also a member of the grassroots Villagers Documentary
Project, with real nonfiction filmmaking credits to his name. That might sound
impressive, but it means he already has two strikes going against him with the
powers-that-be. Nonetheless, many former officials are happy to write glowing
endorsements of his candidacy. He thinks he is well on his way after advancing
to the run-off, only to be disqualified for reasons nobody will explain. Of
course, it is not for a lack of asking on his part.
Frankly,
probably only Jia is surprised by this turn of events. After all, he was openly
building a case against the local factory that had turned the nearby river into
green viscous goo. Jia Zhitan is the sort of troublemaker who will always get
knocked off ballots, but none of the officials he confronts can muster any justification
whatsoever.
What
is most striking about IWTBAPR is Jia’s
idealism. Intellectually, he has to recognize the likelihood of this kind of
ham-fisted response, yet he is still surprised when it happens. The leathery
farmer is no Jack Kennedy, that’s for sure, but he is much more of a man of the
people. In a way, his guilelessness also gives a fearlessness that lets him ask
his ambushed interview subjects just what the heck is their problem, anyway?
