Up the Yangtze

Star Review

China’s ambitious Three Gorges Dam has long been a symbol of the country’s extraordinary economic growth. It is also indicative of the ruthless lengths it is prepared to go to in order to further development and international standing. Around two million people will lose their homes and 1,200 towns and villages will be sucked into the destructive rising waters.
Up the Yangtze is a compelling documentary revealing the social impact of the controversial project. Set against the epic backdrop of the formidable river, the film lays bare the reality of the Chinese dream.
The Yu family are among those who will lose their home to the project. Having lost their livelihood they have been forced to send their daughter Shui to work. In a cruel twist of irony, she is hired into the tourist trade that provides boat rides for westerners, offering a glimpse of the life which has been stolen from her before it disappears forever.
Up the Yangtze astutely juxtaposes Yu Shui’s plight against the unstoppable drive for development which surges on with such poignant proximity all around her.

Anne Biggs on 7th February 2008

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Film Description

In the largest engineering project since the Great Wall, China has set out to harness the power of the Yangtze, an endeavour that provides the epic and unsettling backdrop for a dramatic and disquieting film on life inside the Chinese dream.

Among the two million losing their livelihood to the dam are the Yu family who must now send their daughter off to work. In a bitter irony she’s been hired into a strange tourist trade that thrives along the river, offering a glimpse of a legendary world before it disappears forever.

Stunningly photographed and beautifully composed, Up the Yangtze juxtaposes the poignant and sharply observed details of Yu Shui’s story against the monumental and ominous forces at work all around her. Western passengers take in the views, consuming entertainment on the spacious upper decks while Yu Shui toils in the galley down below, vying with workmates for the few permanent positions.

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