There
have been a number of reports of Chinese elementary and middle school students
who have been sexually assaulted by teachers and government officials, but the
infamous Hainan rape case is the most obvious analog for this based-on-a-true-story
film. When two young girls are assaulted by a local government official, the
police immediately circle the wagons—protecting the predator, exactly as they
did in Hainan. It is not just the girls’ reputations that are at risk. Their
very lives will be in danger throughout Vivian Qu’s way-beyond-zeitgeisty Angels Wear White (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in New York.
The
official in question took eleven or twelvish Wen and her friend Xin (his
god-daughter) out for a night of karaoke, after which he checked them into a
quiet seasonal hotel, plied them with beer, and then forced his way into their
room, over their objections. That last part was captured on the hotel’s surveillance
camera, but the footage is mysteriously missing—not that the cops want to find
it.
Of
course, the owner hopes to avoid trouble with the authorities and
fifteen-year-old runaway Xiaomi (“Mia”) wants to avoid trouble with her boss.
Since she does not have a valid residency permit, she is not working there
legally. Yet, she was the one who checked in the Party predator and the girls,
covering for her co-worker Lily, who was off partying with her thuggish
boyfriend.
Both
girls find themselves on the receiving end of the cops’ victim-blaming, but it
is far worse for Wen, the economically disadvantaged product of a broken home.
However, she gets one break when Attorney Hao, possibly the town’s only honest
lawyer, takes her on as a client.
This
is an absolutely searing film that will definitely leave a mark on anyone who
sees it. The lazy critical response will merely lump it in with the general hashtag
trend, but it cuts much deeper than that. Through a semi-fictional lens, Qu
exposes corruption in Chinese government that is so pervasive and rotten, it
has contaminated all pillars of society. This is an impassioned indictment of
the Hainan authorities and every other government official who abused his
power, as well as the grafters and enablers colluding with them. Yet,
on-screen, it still works brilliantly as a completely absorbing drama.
Qu’s
young cast is absolutely remarkable, starting with the astonishingly forceful
and utterly natural Wen Qi (a.k.a. Vicky Chen) as Mia. She is not always the
most sympathetic teenager in the world, but she makes her acutely and messily
human. Likewise, frightfully young-looking Zhou Meijun’s performance as Wen is
absolutely harrowing and profoundly heartbreaking.
They
are the leads and their work defines the film, but it would be a gross
injustice to overlook Peng Jing’s portrayal of Lily. Her pseudo-mentoring of
Mia represents an intriguing relationship that gives the film even greater
depth. She too will also be the victim of men’s predatory violence, but her
lowkey, more resigned response hits the audience just as hard. This narrative
belongs to the young women and the girls, but Geng Le adds further pathos as
Meng Tao’s Wen’s deadbeat father, who starts to step-up for her, because
somebody has to.
