This is one of the five Oscar-nominated short films of 2010, the story of a Chinese village battling a chemical company whose waste water has contaminated the water and food supply. The details of the village, the company (which had been purchased from the government in 2003), or the pollution is less interesting than what the fight shows about modern China. There are laws on the books and a court system that provide a mechanism for change. There is even a national government that does not oppose them, and may even lend them support, if they can get any attention. The impediments are familiar, local officials in cahoots with private industry, although the details are sketchy. The picture I got is not of an ideological battle, but a battle of ordinary citizens against powerful interests, a story not altogether different from the time when the United States first recognized pollution as a serious danger.
The film can be viewed here.
IMDB link
viewed online and reviewed 2/2/11
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