There are always two side to a policy, however one need to understand the context which resulted in this "one child" policy. China was struggling to feed its people. Its either mass starvation or mass migration. In fact, many had left and these are the Chinese living all across South East Asia. Imagine there was no policy and the people did not leave. How many more millions would have died of starvation. So before anyone condemn this "one child" policy claiming that many unborn children aborted, think of the millions who could have died due to starvation. This story depict the evil of "one child" policy but there is another side of story that is untold.
Plot summary
Through interviews with both victims and instigators, Nanfu Wang, a first-time mother, breaks open decades of silence on a vast, unprecedented social experiment that shaped — and destroyed — countless lives in China.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
August 03, 2023 at 08:31 AM
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Damn if you don't, damn if you do
Critique of the One-Child policy told through the people who lived it
To me, the One-Child policy made sense when I was younger and didn't know any better. Fix overpopulation and hearken Malthus by limiting household size. Easy, right? This wasn't America after all; individual liberties are fewer in Communist China...because...isn't it for the good of the collective and not the individual? To my understanding, most of the Chinese were just banding together and willingly sacrificing for their country.
The movie paints an entirely different picture. Yes, there were those believed they were rightful functioning as an extension of the Red policy. Yet, almost every single person that Wang interviews had to preface recollections of the forced sterilizations and abortions with four haunting words: "I had no choice."
This movie investigates the intersect between acting willfully for your country and its opposite: being forced to do what are considered "necessary evils" for the longevity of the country.
Wang is skeptical that any of this suffering needed to happen to begin with. She provides a counter-narrative to the Communist state, wondering if the mountains of abandoned girl babies were left to die in vain. In retrospect, the policy's dubious reasons point more towards a mindless allegiance to leadership than any saving grace from starvation. That's how the movie is presented, at least.
Definitely worth the watch.
Great theme, poor execution, wasted opportunity
I was always fascinated by the theme, and it deserves treatment. But documentaries are not supposed to be propaganda, explore just one angle, reinforce its purpose for 90 minutes. Things I have NOT found here:
- When/how was the policy created?
- What happened to China's population and economy during its tennure?
- Could the same reasoning have generated a better execution of a similar process? In a democratic country?
- Any similar experiences to compare? Is population control in general important these days? Or did the China policy buried it?
- Any idea of how China would be today with 8 billion people? The good. The bad.
I definitely 'learned' that life is important, killing babies is bad, totalitarian governments opressing the population is dirty, China has a gender equality problem (already agreed with all that) and...a few other obvious points. Not really bad, but short of one would I expect of a doc awarded at Sundance and shortlisted for the Oscars.