A devastating earthquake leaves a happy family shattered in the ruins. A collapsed building takes away a father and forces a mother to make an unthinkable choice. A crushing decision that changes lives and leaves guilt-overridden souls in a world of no redemption, and where the destroyed buildings stand rebuilt, the broken hearts remain in ruins until the day of a coincidental meeting that brings a long-awaited emotional resolution.
This is the world of Xiaogang Feng's Aftershock – the story of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which leaves Yuan Ni with no husband and a terrible decision to make – whether to save her son Fang Da or her daughter Fang Deng. Culture, tradition and custom, however, present a clear choice and in her desperate choice to spare one of her children, Yuan Ni points towards her son, leaving a burning scar on three lives where guilt and pain bubble under the surface for 32 years. Fang Deng, who overhears her mother's decision, miraculously survives and is adopted by two soldiers, and her path leads her through good and bad, for fate to finally find her in Canada in 2008, where a recent earthquake in China brings back forsaken pains and memories and her decision to join the rescue team will bring her back to where it all began.
A slow developing, heart-crushing Sophie's Choice, delivered in a plausible realistic pace, where nobody is right or wrong, good or bad – everyone is a victim of the merciless force de major and their lives are tinted with grief, pain and guilt. A truly remarkable story of a mother's inability to forgive herself, sacrificing her life and happiness in an attempt of redemption of her past sins, brought on by nature's cruel twist. The film is utterly touching without becoming overly depressing, with enough built-in realism that it does not become slow or boring, despite its lingering pace.
Aftershock is a masterpiece of emotion and it is wonderfully beautiful in the way it handles the heartbreaking drama. The final moment of mother-daughter interaction illustrates the whole essence of the film and sheds light on the seemingly fragile human soul which can bear unimaginable amounts of suffering. Fan Xu delivers an utmost performance, portraying the devastated widow and heartbroken mother, who dedicates her life to guiding the souls of her late loved ones back home and accepting her loneliness and suffering with the humility of a person redeeming their sins. Jingchu Zhang, who delivers an impressive performance in Dante Lam's The Beast Stalker, handles the part gracefully and convincingly.
Despite its money shots in the beginning, from the magical opening dragonfly scene to the absolutely breath-taking earthquake portrait, Aftershock is not a disaster epic, but a film about pure emotion and the repercussions of impossible decisions that are forced upon the fragile human conscience. The film delivers an excessive amount of drama but restrains itself from becoming too overblown. Feng paints a touching story about a family split physically and emotionally by a catastrophic event in such a way that the audience would not help but care for the characters as people – people who feel, who suffer, who make impossible decisions and whose existence is scarred with painful memories. Aftershock is a humane depiction of devastating circumstances that leaves a long-lasting feeling of pure emotion and compassion for those who fate has pressured into taking unimaginable decisions.Labels: research |
