Response to The River of Life

On Saturday, November 8, I had the opportunity of attending Panel B: Beijing Independent Film Festival: 
The River of Life, a film documenting the life of a lower middle class family in a small suburb in China. Since the film was documented by one of the family members, Yang Pingdao, the viewer can get a true sense of the family’s everyday life – their struggles, hopes, fears, and the interstitial dynamics between family members. The three most prevalent themes that encompassed this autobiographical documentary were, life, death, and marriage.

While Yang Pingdao, a struggling writer, is trying to make ends meet, especially since he and his girlfriend are expecting a newborn, his grandmother is extremely ill and lies on her death bead. In addition, he is on a quest to find his father’s grave, which he had never visited since his father’s death, so he can revive a religious ritual of asking for blessings and to be a respectful son.

What I like most about this film is that it is nonfictional, in its purest form. It portrays the everyday life of a middle-aged Chinese male, who happens to be a son, a grandson, a boyfriend, a father, and later, a husband. He tries to preserve family tradition, keep his ties with his grandmother who has a hard time identifying who he is, and be a faithful husband, despite his wife’s continuous suspicions of a hidden love affair with a former classmate. Although the culture exposed in this film, Chinese, is different from my background, the similarities far outweigh the differences, making the film very relatable as far as family dynamics is concerned.