Destiny - Recensione
2017-05-28 15:27
by Massimo Volpe (linkinmovies, Italy) May 12 2016
Trans. By SUN SHUANG
(Department of French and Italian, Beijing International Studies University)
Destiny – Review
As an impressive film by Chinese director Zhang Wei, Destiny is a work that frankly tells about a mother’s hard and desperate struggle in defense of her son suffering from autism, pointing out the lack of conscienceabout the issueof the Chinese society.
Along with the increase number of autism patients in the world, there are more and more films related to this topic: since the symptom mostly becomes apparent in childhood or at a very young age, cinema usually is focusedon the small protagonists,whichis also frequently lost in sorrow and sympathy, neglecting the aspects highly closed to the sickness.
It seems strange and surprising that Destiny by Chinese director Zhang Wei regained favorboth from investors and filmmakers. In fact, this film possesses a peculiarity which is difficult to find in other moviesrelated to this topic: it rarely concentrates oncheap emotional appeal; on the contrary, it always takes a deep look at a sortof indifference. This character made the film become one of the best and most interesting movies in the whole Far East Film Festival 18.
We are in Shenzhen, a symbolic city of economic growthin Chinese Mainland. The first free Market Economy Systememerged right here in the 1990s. Its geographiclocation made it an important mainlander place neighboring to Hong Kong. The city is one of those that first saw the birth of the middle classwhich is somewhat of capitalism. The parents of Xi He are from this class: the mother is a bank staff, and father is an air conditioning engineer.Their life is dominated by the needs of their little childsuffering from autism which is not even severe.The childattends a public school, not doing well. Just like all the autistic children, he has his orderly and rigid world where any minor change may cause agitation. Although being loved by his classmates and teachers, the parents of his classmates come in revolt in order to kick him out of school when the child shows aggressivenessin response to harmful stimulations. At first, the teachers try to resist and advise the mother Tian Lin to send her little son to a special education school, but finally, although reluctant, they are forced to refuseXi He at public school.From this point the mother’s torment begins. She intends to affirm that her child has right to go to school and not to be sent to a special institute. At the beginning, she tries to kindly persuade those parents to support her, but when her attempts turn out to be invain, she goes outraged. In the only excess of emphasis of the movie, it’s the media, as usual, that reveals her case to the public.
As we have mentioned, the fine quality of Destiny consists in not being mediocre.It shows coldness and ugliness in many scenes, especially when uncovering the egoism and the lack of solidarity of a society over-seeking wealth. In fact, it admits the absence of social preparation for the issue of autism patients. This aspect is further highlighted, almost as a historic mistake of the Chinese society, when we find that Tian Lin has a sad story as the sister of an autistic man who is even kept in a cage in her hometown.Besides offering one of the most ruthless and touching moments in the film, this scene seems to make more credible the controversialtheory about the heredity of autism. It also creates a valid background for the figure of the mother, escaped from the family where her use should only be taking care of the brother. With no bars and chains, she still sees her discriminated son.
That of Tian Lin and her husband is first of all a battle for liberating themselves, and here lies in the value of the film: the real narrative core is not about the situation of the child, but the hardship and desperationthat the parents are suffering from the battle they are fighting.Clearly, the aspect of the accusation against the society appears frequently throughout the story, but with an attitude which doesn’t go to extremes, it tends to enlighten the conscience about the autism issue, which is maybe still absent in the modern Chinese society.
The little boy Feng Jun is wonderful whenplaying his role, never too exaggerated and absolutely credible. Liang Jingkeis outstanding in the role of the young mother, who is heavily tested, and fighting all by herself in a difficult and despairing battle.