三峡好人 (Still Life)

The relationship between the director and his subject is an inherently unequal one. The director holds the control of the narrative and the subjects are at the mercy of this control. This is doubly so when the film is about the “voiceless” “the disenfranchised.” Simply by being able to make a film, the director is many levels above his subjects socially. It is therefore common to see such films become vehicles of patronization, condescension, tourism, exoticism and charity. This is very difficult to overcome, particularly when the director often starts from “oh, those poor people…” Still Life is not such a film. From the beautiful first shot, we are not above or beyond the characters of the film but there with them. We are in the boat, rather literally, with them. We are not descended on them but are there always. The film continues on stoically like the characters in it. We are always in close proximity, eye-level, with them, not so much watching but being with them. In the end, their stories are told and they do not make us feel superior, not even empathetic, but make us understand, like understanding a friend, ourselves. No wonder Wim Wender’s angels wanted to be human, how can they not. And Jia Zhangke made me his angel, what a privilege.