San zimei

This astounding film showcases exactly what it possible with the documentary format. It gives us an incredibly intriguing and captivating look at a little corner of the world that we would never otherwise have had the opportunity to see. And it does it as well as any film can do.

It shows us some people and their lives who we never would have otherwise known existed, if not for this film. It allows us to understand their struggle, to see the similarities and differences in all of us, to empathize with them. That is the power of the documentary.

The film takes lessons from the documentaries of the past, and applies those lessons in order to tell this story in the best way possible. It is intriguing on all fronts, both visually and aurally. It is an excellent film and I consider myself lucky to have seen it.

Practically every reviewer of this film is confused (and confusing) with one of two Checkov film renditions of his play - 1970 or 1988. Dummies! Or maybe it's Amazon's fault? Anyway, this documentary follows three impoverished very young sisters (focused mostly on the elder of the three) in an impoverished small farming village in SW China. The struggle of this family to survive, as we watch through the lens of a cameraperson who almost blends into the background and for the most part is unnoticed, touches our humanity and perspective of what is important in life. To all those reviewers: Not boring; or poor acting; or slow. This was the pace of their lives. Coincidentally it would have been nice if the camera production team would have fallen up on the health of this elder young girl.

A passionate but unfocused portrait of poverty from a child's perspective, one that could have done without its bloated 2 1/2 hour runtime. The chemistry between the villagers is lovingly genuine, and the scope of the village increases as new people are introduced. The film is unfortunately littered with drawn-out, monotonous scenes, but it certainly has great moments. The last few scenes are especially powerful.

Interesting observational documentary of rural life, following the daily lives of three sisters (all children) who for a time live alone without parents. I think it's an important documentary and one worth seeing. I especially like that there doesn't seem to be an imposed filmmakers' narrative or imposition into their lives, just observing and more observing...