From the very start of this stark, powerful and deeply moving film it is clear how it will play out. The opening on-screen statement reads: “The content of the film has been authorised by the subject Zhang Xiuhua and her children. Some scenes may cause discomfort.”
And discomfort is delivered in austere and hardnosed fashion. It is a remarkable film that is never an easy watch but ultimately a very involving and necessary one. It is an up-close examination of the final days of an elderly woman in a Chinese hospital, surrounded by her family, all shot in black-and-white with an unusual claustrophobic 1:1 ratio and set against the backdrop of the developing Covid pandemic.
In Chinese director Dan Wei’s film – which premiered last year in IDFA competition – Zhang Xiuhua lies in a hospital bed, clearly in distress and with her sons and daughters there to help the medical staff and do whatever they can to help her.
While the first reports of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan are heard on the news in the background, Zhang Xiuhua, who is suffering from an altogether different disease, is fighting for her life. Throughout, the film pulls no punches in its matter-of-fact detailing of procedure – from colostomy bags being emptied to the treatment of gallstones that are obstructing her digestive system.
The doctors may have given up on Zhang Xiuhua, but her children and grandchildren haven’t, and between cigarette breaks they want to try and do anything to can to save her.
They are harassed and on-edge. They have to face up to tough questions and are desperately worried whether it is appropriate to spend money in postponing the inevitable. The eldest son spends time on his phone calling friends and relatives to try and raise money, while at the same time his sister berates him for what she sees as shameful behaviour.
The ‘Ark’ of the title references the need for a shelter at time of great disaster, and also links to the religious divide that divides the family.
Filming in black-and-white gives the film a stark, clinical tone and while the suffering makes for an uncomfortable watch, whether that experienced by Zhang Xiuhua or in observing the fractured family relationships, the film is also an unflinching examination of two of life’s realities – ageing and illness. The fact that the pandemic develops alongside the family’s story gives The Ark an additional resonance and there is no escaping the depth and honesty of the journey.
China, 2020, 101mins
Dir/editor/cinematography Dan Wei
International sales Parallax Films
Producer Shan Li
