It often seems like contemporary China has kept the worst from the past and jettisoned
the best. Traditional and regional cultures are increasingly marginalized, but
the stigma attached to suicide remains in full force. Yet, as the government
becomes ever more oligarchical and corrupt, more and more disenfranchised Chinese
are committing suicide. The Yangtze River Bridge is a popular spot for many of those
final exits. Alarmed by the staggering number of suicides committed there, Chen
Si started patrolling the bridge eleven years ago, hoping to stage impromptu
interventions and counselling sessions. Jordan Horowitz & Frank Ferendo
document the unpaid volunteer at work in Angel
of Nanjing (trailer
here),
which releases today on VOD.
Chen
has no formal training in psychology, but he has a knack for forming fast bonds
with strangers. Evidently, he is also a Yankees fan, which speaks well of his
judgment. Like many of the would-be suicides he takes under his wing, Chen
originally hailed from an impoverished village. Yet, he managed to reinvent
himself reasonably well in Nanjing. He has a responsible office job with a
logistics firm and an indulgent family. However, he still needs that gig to
provide for his wife and daughter, so his patrols are mostly confined to the
weekend.
In
less than seventy minutes, Horowitz & Ferendo give viewers a full sense of
Chen’s personality. He is very much an average, somewhat schlubby guy, who just
happens to have an unusually high degree of empathy. Some of his altruistic
drive comes from a sense of social and class-based solidarity, but the spirit of
responsibility drummed into him by his revered grandmother was clearly his
formative influence.
Horowitz
& Ferendo prefer to focus on Chen and his clients, which is an
understandable strategy, especially given the film’s relative brevity. As
result, very little time is devoted to analyzing why suicide is so prevalent in
contemporary China and the extent to which the government is cooking the books
on suicide statistics goes unremarked. Nevertheless, it is impossible to watch Angel and conclude the events on the
bridge are an isolated phenomenon.
