Autism is a condition not well understood by many in China. DESTINY tells the story of 9-year-old Xi He who although has been diagnosed as autistic, attends a “normal” school at the continuous insistence of his mother. Despite the growing fear of his classmates and their parents over his condition and his occasional outbursts, and the insistence of the parents that the school administrators expel Xi He and send him to a special education institute, still his mother refuses and for the 4th time he is allowed to remain and study with his classmates… until things go too far. Eventually we learn why she insists that Xi He should be brought up as a normal child as much as possible and we witness the power of a mother’s love in full force in this thought-provoking and touching film.
DESTINY explored the tension between ‘fighting against fate’ and ‘resigning oneself to fate’ among autistic people’s families in the contemporary Chinese society. In 98 minutes, this film foretells the whole life of a 9-year-old autistic child by depicting three families’ experiences. Just because of the theme of fate, this film is named as DESTINY in English. It is inspired by true social news, and intends to enhance public awareness and attention for autism. Thus autistic people will be better understood and accepted by the society. Director Zhang Wei had spent many years conducting primary research on autistic communities before shooting this film.
LIANG Jingke as TIAN Lin
FENG Jun as Xi He
ZHAO Ju as LI Haibin
WANG Rui as Zi Xiang
ZHU Huaixu as Zi Xiang’s grandma
HUANG Jingyi as Tian Gui
Photography by Yang Wei
Art Direction by Peng Shaoying
Editing by Manuel De Sousa, Wu Yixiang
Screenplay by Li Dan, Lele, Yang Haibo, Duan Tiantian, Wang Mancheng, Chen Jianzhong, Zhao Xu, Xue Mei
Music by Liu Tao
Sound by Gu Changning
Why I wanted to direct Destiny?
“Authenticity, rationality and theatricality are three highlights of this film that touched me” --ZHANG Wei
I was originally going to shoot a film that reflects autistic children with difficulties in schooling and daily life based on some incidents in Hunan and Beijing. However, I was shocked at a news report in September 2012 that 19 parents signed a letter urging a school in Shenzhen to dismiss an autistic student. The true story of that autistic student’s mother is so touching and typical. She does not lead an easy life. Facing the harsh reality of raising an autistic child, she chose to fight against fate and never gave up any tiny ripple of hope. She would not send her son to any special education institutes because she wanted a normal education for him. Indeed, she was deeply convinced that one day the child could stand on his own feet and return to the society.
I restored most of the dialogue among all parties, e.g. the autistic student’s mother, other students’ parents, the school principal and teachers, during the period of the event. I did this on purpose thus I could have an authentic and reasonable story. Moreover, I integrated two other news about autistic children and their families into this film to enhance its theatricality. However, during the shooting, I repeatedly made it clear that the film could not be fully presented in the form of a documentary, which was a secondary injury to the mother and her child. I want to express the motherhood topic through life experience of an autistic child and his mother as well as reflect the relationship between man and society from a humanistic care perspective.
To sum up, I use 98 minutes to foretell the whole life of a 9-year-old autistic child. I am exploring a destiny inherited from genes. I am also trying hard to show the life struggles of a mother facing desperation.