Shattering Of Hearts

I’ve never cried so much and so hard in a movie before. Feng Xiaogang’s Aftershock (唐山大地震) dishevels my heart the way Chris Nolan’s Inception messes up my head. (And perhaps that’s why I feel so much for the former over the latter!)

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

A family/social drama disguised as a disaster film, it’s neither the decent SFX scenes nor the impressive disaster zones which bookend the films that shook me the most. It’s the tiny little tremors in the tiny little details that crumpled me to a pool of tears.

So she lost her hubby not at once, but in a little aftershock after she found him in the rubble. So she was put in a spot where she had to choose between her son and her daughter. So she had to meltdown with the horrible guilt that she was the only one in a family of four unscathed in the catastrophe. Every dilemma, every quandary and every predicament faced was so universal. “老天爺, 你是个王八蛋!”

Not a single character here was selfish or nasty. Everyone was a product of her or his circumstance. The earthquake in 76 sent aftershocks into each and every of their emotional worlds, motivating their daily decisions and life-long choices. Not a single character was left undeveloped. Everyone and every relation was given even the smallest of scenes to shine. You care about the characters. You want to know what happens to each of them as the trauma unfolds.

The writing was first class; succinct dialogue that cuts so deep, resonating in a three-decade structure that simultaneously mirrors China’s development. The plotting suggests more than spoon-feeds. And the acting, especially that of the mother played by Xu Fan (Mrs. Feng Xiaogang), was top notch. A portrait of regret and resilience. Also deserving highlights are Zhang Jingchu, who brought a fresh contemporary feel to the film playing the young girl grown-up, and Chen Daoming, who added gravitas as the dotting father of his adopted daughter.

But above all these, the direction was key. Assured and economical, neither over-milking nor under-delivering the intimate human drama and those intricate human emotions. Feng Xiaogang shines his light on the universal truths of loss, love, family and forgiveness, and in return, this film will put a beam on him that would catapult him to the highest pinnacle of filmmaking.

This film will not only move billions in China, a country who is still reeling from the Sichuan quake of 08, but many more regardless of language throughout the world. And like me, I bet the aching in their hearts will linger long after they leave the cinemas.