CinemaClock Brantford

With incredible visuals, Up the Yangtze is an amazingly honest documentary about modern China and the changes affecting it. In what is easily the most honest documentary I have ever seen and perhaps also the best, this movie simply presents stories and tragedy and never bores you with statistics. The Yangtze river is stuff of legend and is now transformed beyond recognition. The Canadian filmmaker Yung Cheng has made a witty yet profounding disturbing documentary about his grandfather's homeland. Another public blow to the image of China in a time when the country is right in the world's spotlight. I was worried this would be simply a movie on the environmental impact of the construction of the dam, and was amazed that the movie doesn't even touch on that aspect at ALL. It is completely a film covering the CULTURAL impact of this dam's construction. It is simply an erasure of history and is tragic beyond words. I think one of the film's strongest remarks is one that left most of the other theatre-goers confused: the movie doesn't even pretend to know where China is going with its economic boom and expansion. This is a raw strength of the movie in how it plunges you into the unknown. You may quite possibly leave the theatre wondering what the point of the film was, but there doesn't really have to be one. Easily one of the best films of the year and I strongly recommend it. I was amazed at the access the filmmaker got and could thus film amazing moments of pure honesty and empathy.

Note: The review posted on this page is a personal opinion of our reader. We are not responsible for its content.