Ascension

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.

"Ascension" (2021 release; 97 min.) is an American documentary about the pursuit of the Chinese dream. As the movie opens, we see how companies in China like Huawei and Foxconn aggressively recruit new factory workers with the promise of being able to sit while working, A/C in the dorms, and good food. We then find ourselves on the factory floor, where the workers are doing mind-numbing serial factory work... At this point we are less than 10 min into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the feature-length debut of longtime short documentarian Jessica Kingdon (she is also the movie's producer, writer, photographer and editor, truly a one-woman army!). Kingdon, a Chinese -American, comes up with absolutely amazing footage from dozens of sites in China. I can't help but wonder to what extent, if any, Kingdon had to get permission from local, state or national authorities to film all this. Much of the footage we get is simply the footage plus the electronic score (courtesy of Dan Deacon) but at times we get to listen in on discussions between the individuals (mostly employees) themselves. Check out the fascinating discussion between the butlers-in-training late in the film, where one comments that "Big Uncle Xi", a/k/a China's President (for life) has done "so much good:" while another opines that she likes the US "because I yearn for freedom". The financial and social inequality in China is staggering, as this film makes clear (Of course this is true in many other countries, including the US, but few of them are Communist-controlled.) Whether you like or don't like China, it is undeniably a rising power and a fascinating place. I had the good fortune of spending time in China for my work in the late 00s (the "good ol' days" of expanding trade between the US and China). If you even have a chance to visit China, don't hesitate! Bottom line: "Ascension" is a remarkable documentary about the pursuit of the Chinese dream (even if the pursuit of happiness doesn't seem all that urgent or pressing).

"Ascension" premiered on the film festival circuit last summer to good critical buzz (there is a reason this movie is currently rated 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). It was picked up my MTV Documentaries and started streaming on Paramount + last Fall. I saw an ad for this the other day in the New York Times, and was intrigues. Glad I checked it out. Of course I encourage you to check it out yourself, and draw your own conclusion.

More a series of vignettes than a coherent whole, this is a fascinating documentary neverthless.

Focusing on the modern China and the multitudes of professions that dwell within, it takes a scalpel to the oft cited Chinese dream. A traverse thru the diverse Chinese working class landscape it attempts to show how the underclass is being groomed with the promise of a better tomorrow.

There's arresting imagery and by the end the viewer gets a fair idea of how the class heirarchy works. This is laser focussed on the working class and the only brush with the elite is thru the tools embraced by the elite - the fancy restaurants or the cosmetic industry.

One wonders though, how the director managed to pull this off.

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.

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.