Ascension

Documentary nominated for the Oscar 2022 directed by Jessica Kingdon, an American of Chinese origin.

The film differs from many recent documentaries in that it doesn't have those interviews with people sitting there looking at the camera, nor does it have a narrator to drive the story. The director's camera only observes, sometimes from afar, sometimes up close, the daily lives of workers in the poignant Chinese economy.

In the name of productivity, anything goes, especially the exploitation of workers. It is almost incomprehensible to me to see a recruitment of workers by major Chinese industries stating that the work can be done sitting down or that no health examination is required to enter. Others shout that the work is done 100% standing, demand maximum height of the worker, that workers will sleep in rooms with up to eight people in the same room, or hear that whoever decides if the duration the worker worked that day is their boss.

Perhaps because of her origins, in the end, the director tries to glamorize the toughness she showed, putting on the screen moments of relaxation of hundreds of Chinese in a water park, as if she wanted to convey the message: "work without limits pays".

As there are almost no lines, and when there are, they are dialogues between the workers, with long scenes, the documentary gets monotonous from the middle.

Anyway, it was valid to know the reality of Chinese workers.

A glimpse into a dystopian nightmare. It's also ironic how similar their situation is similar to that of America's, and sad that people cannot even comprehend it.

This is a visually stunning documentary about the ideology used in China to acquire acquiescence from the lower class workers in the factories, restaurants, resorts, etc who are sold a dream of one day being able to join the elite classes if they work hard enough. Almost mesmerizing with its cinematography, akin to the dreams of consumerism and the narratives of wealth that are being sold to the underclass workers, the film nicely illustrates the Chinese economy of the present: the same old drudgery and toil simply with a bright and shiny demeanor. I very much enjoyed the first time director's attention to detail and storytelling style and I'm excited to see the films that follow.

1. For one who grow up and live in this country, this documentary gives me no new information than what I've known. It's kind of like a collection of contemporary topics in China. Maybe for foreigners, some parts of it are shocking.

2. And this point 1, kind of a defect, goes directly to the numbness of people, including me. We've lived with so many ridiculous phenomena and how have we got so numb for all these matters?

3. Everyone will become one of the dolls -- not a human, but a thing, a doll.

4. The reason why I'm not giving it a higher score: the problem this film wants to talk about need more materials. It can become a 3 hours film or even longer.

A visually hypnotic documentary that observes the relentless monotony of the enormous Chinese machine. You get a real sense of the plague of absolute capitalism that is driving that machine -- to what is already global domination and will eventually, decades from now, lead to a desperate collapse, similar to the one America is having right now.