Foreign Film Critique

Use the following format for your international film review; answers must be typed below the
questions and all questions must appear in full on your final copy. You can use this document as your
template. Pay careful attention to the required number of words for those questions that have them.
Failure to follow the instructions here and on your syllabus will result in a substantially low grade.
Minimal answers poorly written are a D grade or less. Elaboration of points, excellent arguments,
and good writing garner higher grades.
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Name: Isabel Wagner
Class time period Tue/Thur 2:30
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Title of Film: Aftershock

Year of release: 2010
Language of original film: Mandarin
Director: Xiaogang Feng
Actors: Daoming Chen Li and Yi Lu

6) Give a brief plot summary (should be 150-250 words and not be plagiarized from the web):
In Tangshang China, Da Qiang and his family are a content family with a very modest, but loving
way of life. Their family has two twins and the parents work hard to give their children everything
and to make their lives happy. On July 27th,1976 a massive earthquake hits their city, destroying
everything in its way. The night the earthquake hits the mother and father are working out in
wagons while their kids are at home asleep. The parents rush back to their house, watching it
crumble to the ground, Da Qiang runs in to the house to try to save his children. In this attempt to
save his children, he dies, and the children get trapped under a pile on concrete. The children are still
alive, but the mother, Yuan Ni, is forced to choose one child she wants to save because the men of
the community can only get one child out from under the concrete. In a hurry, she decides to save
her son and they go to the capital (where everyone in the city is getting help). The daughter ends up
being alive, waking up, and is rescued by a soldier Mr. Wang who takes her in as a foster child for
her life. The daughter, Wang Deng, grows up constantly having boyfriends and getting pregnant.
When she refuses to have an abortion, her boyfriend leaves her and she runs away and marries a
Canadian man moving to Canada. Later on, when another large earth quake hits china thirty two
years later Wang Deng flies back to China to join the rescue team. When she is working she
overhears a man talking about the earthquake when she was a kid saying, I got separated from my
sister, my mom had to choose which one of us she wanted to save. They reunite and they make up
for all the time lost and the bitterness that was between them.
7) Analyze the social and philosophical issues the film addresses. Make sure you include the point
of view of the movie, the context of the movie, what audience the movie is targeting, and why. (i.e.
you should address and reflect upon the argument or meaning of the work. This should be
analysis, not just summary of issues in the movie) {your answer should be at least 500 words}
The main event and whole focus of the movie was the earthquake. The earthquake changed

everyones lives completely and they had to learn how to overcome that trial throughout the rest of
their life. People lost their houses and the people they loved. Everyone was traumatized, especially
the two main children. Feng Deng woke up next to her dead father, an event like that will scar you
for life. Her brother, Fang Da lost his arm. And both of the children were emotionally scared
knowing their mother chose one of them over the other. Throughout the whole movie Feng Deng has
experiences of people constantly leaving her, she constantly is being neglected. In the beginning her
mom chooses her brother over her, when she meets a man she loves and she gets pregnant the man
leaves her to raise her child alone. Her life is full of trials and difficult times that she has always been
left alone. She lives a life where her heart will never be complete because she feels that everyone
around her never cares about her. The mother, Yuan Ni, has a hard philosophical trial to over come
her whole life as well. She will never leave the city they live in, she is too afraid to move on. She
feels that when her husband and her daughters spirits come back one day she needs to be there for
that day. She has the hardest time being happy again and always blames herself and God for
everything that has happened. In a point she says Why God? You Bastard feeling that the world is
against her and always keeping herself in misery. Her sadness rubbed off on to her son as well. She
forced him to stay with her, disregarding the plans he had made for his life, to make her happy. This
movies focus is to people who have dealt with trials and hardships. Each character in the movie
demonstrates different ways in which people will deal with things that happen to them. Fang Deng
has lived the most awful life, every worst event possible has happened to her yet she still at the end
goes back to China, helps with the earthquake, and even makes up with her brother forgiving
everything that has happened. The mother, Yuan Ni demonstrates a person who holds on to things
forever. She makes herself so sad and refuses to get over an event that it makes everything else in her
life sad and everyone around her depressed. Fang Da shows a person who is compassionate but also
goes on with their life. He has emotion, but he doesnt devote his life to the past. He wants to have a
happy life and let it continue. I think that these three characters show actual feelings and the way real
humans deal with events. There are many different ways people learn to cope, and it is always
different depending on the person.
8) What is your response to the message of the film? Why do you respond this way? Show that you
are thinking about your own thinking here and the biases/assumptions about the world you bring to
your viewing. Did the film change the way you view the subject? Why, or why not? {at least 250
words}
I loved the message of this film. I think the hardest thing in life for a lot of people is to overcome
things that have happened. It is easy to be sad and to get in to a depressed state of mind when you
lose everything. It makes it seem like nothing else is worth living for. I think the mother in this film
is a great example to life. She shows strength and continuing on, even though her world literally fell
apart. It is often said that the happiest and strongest people in life are the ones who have gone
through the most because they have overcome many trials and have survived them. You are not
strong until you have gone through something that shatters your world and have come out still
happy. In my life, I can get upset or emotional over things easily and I have had to teach myself and
constantly reassure myself. There is no point in being sad for a while, it only affects you. There is no
point in dwelling on things you cant change, but rather to over come them and learn from them to
not let those things affect you in that way again. It is okay to be sad, everyone experiences that, it is
a human emotion. However, being sad for a long amount of time will never benefit anyone. At some

point you have to forgive what has happened and to over come it you have to move on and be happy.
Something I always tell myself and everyone around me is to smile, even when you are feeling sad
to smile. It has been scientifically proven that smiling when you are sad released chemicals in your
brain that make you happy. So the simplest step when you are sad, to start overcoming something
hard, is to smile.
9) What cultural differences did you notice in the film (philosophical outlook, humor, architecture,
customs, clothes, cities, weather, food, music, dancing, lifestyles, etc.)? What did you learn about
history, economics or politics? {There are always differences; look for them} [at least a 250 words]
This film was very different to the American films that I have seen. For starters, the music and the
language were very different, obviously. Additionally, there wasnt much music. In most American
movies there is music between every seen or when a character is doing something to emphasize
emotion. Because this movie was made in 2010 I think that the overall quality of picture of the
movie and the lighting is very similar to what we see in America. The cultural aspects were the main
differences I noticed that were extremely different than those in America. In almost every home
there were pictures of their rulers, all of their homes were very close and tight together, I saw no
technology other than a land line phone being used, there were no cars only bikes to get around to
every place, and there was the color red in almost every scene. I noticed that there were also a lot of
people always willing to help. A lot of times in America it can be every man for themselves but in
this movie I noticed that everyone was always helping each other or being kind to each other.
Another big factor they talked about a lot was taking the college placement test. The parents were
obsessed with their children taking the placement test and always talking to them about schooling, in
America this is a big factor but it is more of a childs decision than being forced upon by their
parents. It was really interesting to me to see all of the cultural differences. It makes me understand
Chinese culture more and to gain a greater appreciation.
10) What techniques did the filmmaker uses that were different from what you see in the films you
normally watch? Think about lighting, dialogue, atmosphere, setting, music, and how the filmmaker
might play upon your own biases, etc. {150 words}
A lot of the lighting in the film is a lot darker than most American films and the colors were all
natural and darker colors that blended in to the background. The whole atmosphere of the film made
the characters seem like in their culture they have an overall mutual respect to everyone and are
always there to help each other. There wasnt a lot of music in every scene, making most of the
movie just talking and peoples voices. One of the major differences I noticed from the amazing
American movie industry was that the clips were pretty choppy and not flown together well. From
scene to scene they didnt seem like they were put together too well. One thing I did like however in
the scenes was how they would focus less on the background and more on the speakers, making it
more dramatic and more of a focus on the person talking. The other thing I really liked was that there
werent a billion characters to focus on, the main 6 characters were the main focus and the other
people around were not even mentioned or looked at at all. It was cool to see the many differences,
and overall I thought it was a very well made movie.

11) Discuss how what you saw in the film relates to one of the assigned readings or class discussions
we have had. Be specific. (150 words)
The main thing I saw in this film that relates to our main class discussion we have been having is,
happiness and the good life. We have talked a lot about what makes someone happy. This movie
showed many different examples of how people went back to being happy or did not become happy
again after a crisis. Just as we have talked about, the happiest people in the movie were the ones who
forgave and overcame the earthquake. The ones who recognize it but do not let all of their emotions
dwell on it. Often in life you have to forget about things in the past to move on and be happy. Unlike
the movie, being forgiving can make you happier. The daughter, Fang Deng never forgave her family
so she always lived with a pit. She could have felt more free and happy if she could have learned to
forgive and forget. Its not easy to be happy sometimes, but when you are sad it is only hurting
yourself. I think the characters did a really good job at showing that could learn to be happy and who
made themselves miserable for their lives.

12) Why do you think I assign a foreign film?

The main focus of humanities courses is to View, listen to, and read primary materials
that will help you view the world in what may be new and different ways by thinking
critically, asking questions, discussing, and looking for answers to these fundamental
questions. By watching a foreign film we can see the way of life of a different culture
and to put in to perspective our lives in comparison to theirs. It helps you to view
different cultures in a new way and to form our own thoughts about them. It is a greater
and deeper understanding of life, through watching this movie I know that I have gained
a much deeper understanding of the Chinese culture. I was very not excited to do this
foreign film critique, if Im being honest, but I thought this movie was so good. It pulled
at my heartstrings in every way and taught me some very important lessons in life. It
honestly made me want to watch more foreign films, I feel like I have become just a tad
bit of a more well rounded person watching this film and I will carry it with me forever.