Light of the Setting Sun

Vicky Du ‘s family never really talked about their feelings. It wasn’t frosty Scandinavian reserve. It was due to deep family trauma. Sadly, that untreated trauma metastasized into more trauma. Du finally helps them unravel their painful issues in her debut documentary feature, Light of the Setting Sun, which is now playing in New York.

The Du family immigrated from Taiwan, but they trace their heritage back to Mainland China. Unfortunately, they retreated to Taiwan to avoid the victorious Communists’ brutal reprisals. However, they still kept in touch with various cousins and uncles who remained, at least until the Cultural Revolution. Eventually, Du’s parents learned the fate of their relatives, but they never discussed it with Du and her siblings.

Frankly, they also did their best to ignore problems within the nuclear family, at last until her bother Andrew dropped a bomb one day, announcing he just finished treatment for a mental breakdown. Ironically, that was a bit of a conversation starter, launching the family into therapy. However, their parents still resisted talking about their extended family, until Du eventually found a letter from one of the few survivors, cataloguing their painful fates.

The idea of connecting the dots leading from the enormity of the Cultural Revolution to one family’s private angst is quite intriguing. Indeed, the “ah-hah” moments of familial history discoveries are hugely compelling, but there is a lot of observational connective tissue lacks the same level of drama. Du also gives much more weight to her generations’ travails (understandably, since she and her brother lived through them) than the Maoist terrors that fatally severed the Chinese branches of their family.

Arguably, a bit more context regarding the Cultural Revolution would help historically-challenged viewers better understand why it was so deadly (especially when it eventually airs on PBS’s Independent Lens). The target audience would probably also expect a greater investigation of the historical horrors that swept up Du’s family. However, the intimacy of Du’s film is quite brave and relentlessly honest. Recommended for those who appreciate the candor and the healing, Light of the Setting Sun is currently playing in New York at the DCTV Firehouse.