Up the Yangtze

86

Zeitgeist Films (93 minutes)
and Yung Chang
Jerry Bo Yu Chen , Campbell Ping He , and Cindy Shui Yu

Rating: Not Rated

Summary: In China, it is simply known as 'The River.' But the Yangtze—and all of the life that surrounds it—is undergoing an astonishing transformation wrought by the largest hydroelectric project in history, the Three Gorges Dam. Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang returns to the gorgeous, now-disappearing landscape of his grandfather’s youth to trace the surreal life of a “farewell cruise” that traverses the gargantuan waterway. With a humanist gaze and wry wit Chang’s Upstairs Downstairs approach captures the microcosmic society of the luxury liner. Below deck: a bewildered young girl trains as a dishwasher sent to work by her peasant family, who is on the verge of relocation from the encroaching floodwaters. Above deck: wealthy international tourists set sail to catch a last glance of a country in dramatic flux. The teenage employees who serve and entertain them—tagged with new Westernized names like “Cindy” and “Jerry” by upper management—warily grasp at the prospect of a better future. "Up the Yangtze" gives a human dimension to the wrenching changes facing not only an increasingly globalized China, but the world at large. (Zeitgeist Films)

John Anderson
Variety:
(100) A gloriously cinematic documentay of epic, poetic sadness.

Stephen Holden
The New York Times:
(100) An astonishing documentary of culture clash and the erasure of history amid China’s economic miracle.

Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com:
(100) Chang's images of the Yangtze and the new megacities replacing the villages on its banks are spectacular, and his cast of characters rival any fiction film I've seen recently.

Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly:
(100) Filmmaker Yung Chang finds a sad and beautiful way to glimpse the big picture of dislocation through an exquisitely poised small study.

Ty Burr
Boston Globe:
(100) In his masterful and haunting documentary Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang shows the old China drowning helplessly under the weight of the new.

G. Allen Johnson
San Francisco Chronicle:
(100) Remarkable.

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