[3.9]
Entertaining look into an experiment in Democracy in a Chinese classroom, but the end result isn’t nearly as meaningful as the premise would suggest. As an exploration of what democracy would look like in China, this film fails in many respects. The filmmakers, intent on showing how democracy would be “new” to China, fail to make it clear to the viewer that there is voting in China, in various political groups, organizations, etc.
The filmmakers also include gratuitous footage that does nothing to help the story (I’m thinking of the strange inclusion of moments where Cheng Cheng asks if he can take his underwear off, where his father is wiping his ass, and where he has a conversation with his opponent while they are both pissing in the restroom). I guess these details could suggest the “Little Prince Syndrome” (in which boys are spoiled to no end by their parents, mainly as a result of the value placed on males and all of the parents hopes and dreams resting in their sole child thanks to the “One Child Policy”), but there were far less intimate moments that conveyed the same ideas. In fact, the children’s relationships with their parents was one of the most compelling aspects of this film, and I wish it had been explored more, especially in the aftermath of the elections. It was clear that the parents were putting a lot of pressure on their children, teaching them dirty tricks to intimidate their opponents, writing their speeches for them, watching them rehearse, and even offering a free ride on the monorail to the entire class, to lure their votes (the same police officer who provided this- Lui Lei’s father- also gave his son gifts to hand out right before voting). While the classroom teacher seemed to find the whole thing quite trivial and amusing (all the while assuring the kids that the process and experience were what was important, not the actual election results), the parents seemed to view their child’s win with the utmost seriousness.
The filmmakers had access to a single mother (who confessed that she felt that her daughter was at a disadvantage having only one parent), a cunning television producer mother (Cheng Cheng’s mom, who carefully rewrote his speech and dutifully advised him how to gesture while speaking), and a Police Officer father. While we saw some of the children’s life at home, more time was focused in the classroom, where most of the action, while amusing, can be viewed as typical childhood behavior. The kids lie, taunt each other, get nervous, cry; childhood is an emotional rollercoaster where we learn the boundaries of how to express our feelings, and much of this is shaped both by our peers and by our parents. The filmmakers seemed on the verge of capturing some fantastic perspectives into the modern Chinese family, but they instead stayed focused on the election for Class Monitor. I can’t help but wonder how much the filmmakers were pulling strings to get results they wanted, especially after a disturbing scene in which Cheng Cheng asks the cameraman to go back to a student and ask her who she will vote for (to make sure she doesn’t answer differently when Cheng is not around) and then the cameraman goes back to Cheng Cheng and reports what the girl says! When the camera operator turns into Cheng’s spy, I have to seriously start questioning how much the filmmakers were prodding the kids to action (the very fact that the filmmakers included this short scene in the film makes it appear that they are oblivious to the moral dilemma of their interactions with the children).
I am also dubious about the events in the film after seeing the credits, which reveal that the production company appears to be simply an organization to spread democracy, implying that they had an outcome in mind when creating this documentary. As troubling as those implications are, its nice that the film shows the complex characteristics of a democracy, even in a classroom. The children are swayed by gifts and intimidations, and friends turn on each other for the sake of a “win”. So, while I enjoyed the brief hour that I was given with these children, the filmmakers could have really had something special if they had delved deeper into the family and made a film twice as long. In fact, this film just makes me yearn for a Chinese version of the UP series. How great would it be to see these kids, seven years later, look back upon this election and discuss how it shaped their view of democracy? Now that would be powerful.
burning retina 