A documentary film about the hidden side of youth in a rapidly developing China
"Youth (Spring)" (2023 / France, Luxembourg, Netherlands / Color / Vista / 3h 35m) Director: Wang Bing
A documentary by Chinese director Wang Bing, internationally acclaimed for works such as "Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks," "Three Sisters," and "Dead Souls," which observes the lives of young people working in small garment factories in a massive economic region of China.
The Yangtze River Delta region, which centers on Shanghai and spreads across the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, has supported China's rapid economic growth. The camera focuses on nameless young people in their late teens and twenties working in garment factories in the town of Zhili, documenting their labor and daily lives.
In addition to being selected for the competition section of the 76th Cannes Film Festival in 2023, it won Best Documentary at the 60th Golden Horse Awards and the Experimental Award at the 49th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.
A documentary depicting sewing (sewing machine) factories of small and medium-sized enterprises in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in a developing China. In Japan, this might evoke the image of downtown industrial zones from the late 60s to early 70s. Even though they are migrant workers, it feels like young people struggling to find jobs working alongside housewives. The sound of the sewing machines is a documentary of noise, similar to "The Zone of Interest" which I watched recently, but perhaps it is more like the sounds of daily life. Young people around twenty years old are living on-site (in buildings that look like old apartment complexes where the factory is on the ground floor), and despite the poor environment, they are full of youthful energy, flirting and playing with each other amidst the noise of the sewing machines. The manager who appeared later also seemed like a 27-year-old young entrepreneur (he has a young child, so perhaps a young president of a small or medium-sized business). Within this, there are fights, love stories, men playing around with each other, and collective bargaining for wage increases, but overall, it is a documentary about youth in the cluttered, bustling atmosphere of a downtown area. While it is the hidden face of China depicting low-income earners working for low wages, as a film, one feels the energy of young people living life to the fullest. Is that reflected in the title "Youth"?
As for director Wang Bing, it feels like he intended to capture the hidden side of China rather than the surface of its economic development, as seen in "The Yangtze River," but the overall impression I received from the film was a documentary reminiscent of Japan's period of rapid economic growth, overflowing with energy.
Wages are paid every six months, sometimes amounting to 500,000, though if they have taken advances, it might be half that. Yet, the family home of one of them is a newly built, luxurious two-story house. There is a lake in front of it, and they could even live a self-sufficient life with peach trees planted there, but perhaps they come out to the city because they yearn for it. They are the smartphone generation, playing games and listening to music with lyrics about the world of lovers, like New Music, and there is a young man who hits on older women among them.
Even at work, they smoke cigarettes, which is unthinkable in Japan today, and the workshop is cluttered with trash, yet the girls are putting on makeup and dressing up. There was a scene at the beginning involving a pregnancy issue, and it seemed like a workplace where such things happen often. Some might find three and a half hours long, but once you enter that world, it is interesting to see the trends of Chinese youth. Are they surprisingly carefree and pragmatic? It is a film that makes you feel the heat of youthful energy. It was a wonderful documentary where the camera seemed to melt into the factory. Many of them are aware of the camera, but is it an observational film that captures the carefree nature of youth?