State media only airs propaganda favorable to the regime in power, because that
is its only reason for being. However, for one brief night in 2002, the local
CCP-controlled TV station in Changchun broadcasted some contrary points of
view. They had been hacked. As a result, comic artist Daxiong was forced to
leave China, even though he was not involved. He was a Falun Gong (or Falun Dafa) practitioner,
just like the signal hijackers, so he faced similarly harsh reprisals.
Understandably, he had rather mixed feelings about the “hijacking,” but he came
to respect the hijackers’ motivations and sacrifices while designing the
animation of Jason Loftus’ documentary Eternal Spring, which screens as
part of the 2022 Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
If
the opening round-up scene were a live-action tracking shot rather than
animation, it would have film geeks screaming comparisons to Fincher and Paul
Thomas Anderson. It still will knock viewers’ socks off. Yet, it also serves an
important function, illustrating the ruthlessness of the police crackdown
following the broadcast signal intrusion.
In
more traditionally filmed scenes, Daxiong meets with a handful of survivors now
living abroad, for feedback on his rendering of the characters and the city of
Changchun at that time. Eternal Spring has garnered comparisons to Jonas
Poher Rasmussen’s Flee, but the animation Daxiong designs is much
more stylish and the true story Loftus helps tell is far more tense and
gripping. Flee looked perfectly fine, but clearly the animation
began and ended in a computer, whereas viewers can easily tell Eternal Spring started with Daxiong’s pen and paper.
There are several contemporary scenes featuring Daxiong
and the survivors, but the overwhelming majority of the documentary animates
the planning, execution, and aftermath of the signal intrusion. We come to care
about the figures involved, especially the working-class trucker appropriately
dubbed “Big Truck,” even though we know they will face unjust fates. Tellingly,
the one event the doc only mentions in passing is the trial itself, because why
bother? It held no suspense or uncertainty.
It isn't just the genocide of Muslim Uyghurs that Iran and other Mid East
regimes deliberately overlook to cozy up to Xi’s China. They also ignore the
genocidal crimes committed against Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar military
junta, whom the CCP has embraced. Life is nearly impossible for the Rohingya in
their own country, even for Nyo Nyo. She has an apprenticeship with the Buddhist
Hla, but their relationship is often quite strained, as Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
documents in Midwives, which screens as part of the 2022 Human Rights
Watch Film Festival.
Rakhine
state in Myanmar (a.k.a. Burma) is a powder keg. Racist mobs (sadly including
some Buddhist monks) regularly march through the district condemning Muslims
and those who protect them. Arguably, Hla and her husband are running a grave
risk by employing Nyo Nyo, but they to can be cruel and dismissive towards her.
Yet, she plays an essential role translating for Rohingya women, who can only
seek treatment at Hla’s clinic, due to ethnic-based travel restrictions.
Listening
to the virulence of the propaganda spewing on television broadcasts and during
street demonstrations is bracingly eye-opening. If this were regularly reported
on American nightly news broadcasts, Myanmar would be sanctioned back to the
stone age. It also should lead viewers to reserve judgement on Hla, even though
her behavior is sometimes troubling. On the other hand, it is easy to respect
Nyo Nyo, who becomes increasingly enterprising as the film progresses. In
defiance of Muslim teachings regarding interest-charging, she starts a
neighborhood saving-and-loan coop to empower her fellow Rohingya women.
Capitalism and freedom always go and grow together.
Mostly
Hnin Ei Hlaing maintains a micro focus on the two midwives, but macro events
regularly intrude on their lives. The film starts before the military coup,
when things were already bad, but continues afterward, with everyone fearing
for the worst. Yet, the doc makes great efforts to find cause for optimism, no
matter how modest.
