China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province

Synopsis： On May 12, 2008, a catastrophic earthquake hit Sichuan Province in rural China, killing nearly 70,000 people, including 10,000 children.　In town after town, poorly constructed school buildings crumbled, wiping out classrooms filled with students, most of them their parents’ only child.　But when grieving mothers and fathers sought explanations and justice, they found their path blocked by incompetence, corruption and empty promises.

An astonishingly up-close and candid look at the human toll of this devastating earthquake and its effect on a community of families, CHINA’S UNNATURAL DISASTER:　THE TEARS OF SICHUAN PROVINCE examines the reality of modern China for its people, presenting a rare glimpse at how the government reacts to civil unrest.　The film visits parents of deceased children from several schools a few days after the disaster, sharing in their unimaginable grief at the loss of what was for most their only child.　Traveling to China immediately after news of the earthquake broke, Alpert and O’Neill chronicled not just the parents’ agony and disbelief, but also their subsequent outrage, both at officials who mismanaged the construction of multi-floor schools, and at the government that targeted its rescue efforts elsewhere.
影片记录了死难学生家长发现震塌的校舍建筑偷工减料，决心为死去的孩子讨还公道，他们手持镶着死难孩子照片的镜框游行到上级市政府，要求对豆腐渣工程作出 调查，然后官员和警察前来阻拦，发生警民冲突，其中还包括了已被广为报道的绵竹市委书记蒋国华下跪央求游行家长不要前往德阳市的场面。虽然在家长们游行时 地方政府信誓旦旦说一定进行调查，但最后却不了了之。

当Jon Alpert及Matt O’Neill，还有纽约市立大学的华裔学者邝治中和夏明教授者于 2008年5月22日到达成都时，已经是地震后的第10天了。他们听说绵竹市富新镇家长要游行到60里开外的成都请愿，倒塌的富新二小死了很多学生，家长们在废墟上搭设灵堂，花圈一直摆到了街上。摄制组立即转向富新镇，在路上遇见了游行队伍。巧遇家长游行，使他们决定聚焦于死难学生。在经过了10天可以称之为惊心动魄地拍摄采访过后，拍摄组回到美国。回来后，HBO的总裁Sheila Nevin看了剪辑成1个小时的样片后认为，这个片子完全有实力角逐奥斯卡奖，决定追加投资重新编辑，并按奥斯卡要求，片长减为39分钟。这部付出心血的作品按照Jon Alpert的话来说 “还是向让更多的华人看到，因为这部片子本来就是献给中国来百姓的。”

United Nations Association Film Festival, Palo Alto, CA Oct 2009 (USA)

4444(创建者)