Unnatural Disaster: Tears of Sichuan Province

[Batmaniac]

Heard about this on NPR this morning.

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...ft=1&f=1001

 

Documents what parents are going through losing their only child. And also the reaction of some of the local officials to charges of corruption in building the the schools that collapsed. Surprised really that these filmmakers weren't shut down at several points during the film. It does show the police trying to stop a demonstration march. There's 5 parts on Youtube. Here's the first. The rest will be over on the right side.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=026HsrgHjwM...=PL&index=1

 

It is heartbreaking. My wife had tears through most of it. And me too nearly.

[hakkamike]

My Son and Daughter in law lost their child at 3 months old, shit happends dont it! WECOME TO THE REAL WORLD, just happy the kids name was not Don.

Edited March 7, 2010 by hakkamike (see edit history)

[TLB]

Heard about this on NPR this morning.

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...ft=1&f=1001

 

Documents what parents are going through losing their only child. And also the reaction of some of the local officials to charges of corruption in building the the schools that collapsed. Surprised really that these filmmakers weren't shut down at several points during the film. It does show the police trying to stop a demonstration march. There's 5 parts on Youtube. Here's the first. The rest will be over on the right side.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=026HsrgHjwM...=PL&index=1

 

It is heartbreaking. My wife had tears through most of it. And me too nearly.

 

thanks for the posting; this is amazing and I hope everyone watches it. I'll be forwarding to a young friend from Chengdu who's here as a grad student, and showing my fiancee via Skype.

[Stepbrow]

On a NPR they said that the film, and any internet searches for the film are blocked. They said that the film is not mentioned on the News in China.

[HongKong2LA]

I watched this on HBO a few months ago. It was very sad to see that in most cases the parents lost their only child. According to the documentary, due to poor construction, many schools were completely destroyed in the quake and often several hundred children or more lost their lives at each school.

[Tony_onrock]

Is there a place to download or purchase this film?

[squirty]

Is there a place to download or purchase this film?

 

 

Here is a downloadable torrent. It's downloading pretty fast.

 

http://btjunkie.org/torrent/Chinas-Unnatur...ec63cc02b291eb3

[shenzhen]

On a NPR they said that the film, and any internet searches for the film are blocked. They said that the film is not mentioned on the News in China.

I was able to get the IMDbPro site with information on this documentary (see below). Granted I could not see it on YouTube but that is an age old "block"....

 

Was also able to get the hollywoodreporter.com report discussing that "China's official media censored Oscar nominations coverage, cutting mention of the selection of an HBO documentary about the 2008 Sichuan earthquake."

 

Was even able to get to the democracynow.org website with information on this documentary.

 

 

AMY GOODMAN: That¡¯s an excerpt from a documentary premiering tonight on HBO called China¡¯s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province. The film visits with parents in China in the days after the disaster.

 

"Jon Alpert and Matt O¡¯Neill are co-directors of the film. Jon is a fifteen-time Emmy winner and the co-founder of Downtown Community Television right here at the firehouse. Matt O¡¯Neill is a three-time Emmy winner and works with Jon Alpert here at DCTV. Their documentary airs tonight 8:00 Eastern Standard Time on HBO and will re-air on the anniversary of the earthquake, on May 12th at 11:00 p.m.

 

 

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! You went to China right after the disaster. Explain what you found and why you were so¡ªwhy you felt it was so important for people to understand."

 

Qingdao must be hot spot of democracy or NPR also likes to stretch the story.

 

China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (2009) (TV) More at IMDbPro »

 

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Overview

User Rating:7.3/10 108 votes

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MOVIEmeter: Up 4% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.Directors:Jon Alpert

Matthew O'Neill

Contact:View company contact information for China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province on IMDbPro. Release Date:21 January 2010 (Hungary) more Genre:Documentary | Short more Plot:On May 12, 2008, a catastrophic earthquake hit Sichuan Province in rural China, killing nearly 70,000 people... more | add synopsis Plot Keywords:China | Earthquake | China Protest | China Politics | Sichuan Earthquake more Awards:Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination more NewsDesk:

(3 articles) Full Nominees List of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards

(From Celebrity Mania. 2 February 2010, 5:02 PM, PST)

The 82nd Annual Academy Award Nominations Are In!

(From MovieWeb. 2 February 2010, 10:08 AM, PST)

User Reviews:really candid look more (1 total)

 

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Additional Details

Parents Guide:Add content advisory for parents Runtime:USA:38 min Country:USA Language:Mandarin Color:Color (HD) Sound Mix:Dolby SR Filming Locations:Sichuan, China Company:HBO Documentary Films more

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User Reviews (Review this title)

11 out of 11 people found the following review useful.

really candid look, 4 July 2009

 

 

Author: cbholbrooke98 from United States

 

I loved this documentary because it was so candid and honest. It revolves around the aftermath of the massive 2008 earthquake in China that took the lives of thousands of people, many of them young children who were in unsound school buildings during the time of the tremor. Pictures of the lost and deceased children float in the hands of their parents throughout the film, who can been seen crying in almost every shot. The devastation and frustration felt by these families are heartbreakingly evident. Many lost their only child due to the OCP. I especially loved the part where some people were arguing over whether criticizing the standards for building structure safety in China was criticizing Red China as a whole, something everyone defended. I would recommend this to everyone, TiVo it next time it's on HBO, so long as you have tissues with you.

Edited March 8, 2010 by shenzhen (see edit history)

[Randy W]

On a NPR they said that the film, and any internet searches for the film are blocked. They said that the film is not mentioned on the News in China.

 

 

Try AltaVista or Google. They work just fine in China, and are NOT censored. You would not use a Chinese search engine to find western information.

[Stepbrow]

That was a great documentary. Too bad it did not win the Oscar