China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province

It has been 12 years since the catastrophic earthquake. There is still no one taken account for those young students died from poor quality teaching buildings. It was a natural disaster as well as a unnatural disaster. The authority has been trying to distort the narrative of the disaster to a nationalist discourse. The documentary keeps the memory of what happened, so people can reject such narrative by remembering the truth.

I loved this documentary because it was so candid and honest. It revolves around the aftermath of the massive 2008 earthquake in China that took the lives of thousands of people, many of them young children who were in unsound school buildings during the time of the tremor. Pictures of the lost and deceased children float in the hands of their parents throughout the film, who can been seen crying in almost every shot. The devastation and frustration felt by these families are heartbreakingly evident. Many lost their only child due to the OCP. I especially loved the part where some people were arguing over whether criticizing the standards for building structure safety in China was criticizing Red China as a whole, something everyone defended. I would recommend this to everyone, TiVo it next time it's on HBO, so long as you have tissues with you.

We here at Indie Friendlie really liked this film, even though it was difficult to watch at times.

The film follows the tragic deaths of children as a result of an earthquake in China. The real tragedy is that many of these fatalities were preventable.

The cultural and political forces which contributed to this injustice are fascinating, and sometimes mind-boggling to Westerners.

You'll get a rare glimpse into some of the harsher realities of Chinese culture, as well as empathize with the universal suffering all adults experience when they've lost a child.

A well-made film.