This week in my Images of Fascism class I had the opportunity to show Jia Zhangke's masterful 2006 film Still Life. I was honest in telling my students, in fact I include it on the handout, that Jia Zhangke is my favorite contemporary filmmaker. I suspect I've talked enough about this film over the years that it's not necessary to give a lot of background, but, of course, I will anyway. It focuses on Han Sanming (played by Han Sanming) and Shen Hong (played by Zhao Tao, Jia Zhangke's longtime muse) who arrive at the village of Fengjie, both looking for lost spouses. The actual town of Fengjie was being actually largely flooded by the Three Gorges Dam project, and the destruction is being captured in real time. Jia Zhangke is telling a beautiful and heart-wrenching story, but he's also subtly critiqueing the state of life in China (which is what I asked the students to focus on). It is an extraordinary film, maybe my favorite film of the 21st century, and definitely required viewing.
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