Up the Yangtze

Audience Reviews

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Jan 29, 2020 This doc came highly recommended so I was really looking forward to it. But it was much much too slow for my liking. It felt like everything was drawn out. I didn't finish it. See more

Dec 5, 2018 Up the Yangtze: 7 out of 10: Yung Chang's documentary follows two young people who get a job on a tourist boat as the water in their province rises due to the completion of the massive Three Gorges Dam. Some documentaries sneak up on both a person and a filmmaker. I don't know exactly what type of film Yung Chang set out to make when he went to China during the completion of the Three Gorges Dam but he wisely tossed the script for an intimate portrait into an illiterate dirt poor family scratching a living on the soon to disappear banks of the river. Relatable is the surprising keyword I have for this film. Many of us remember our first jobs away from home and many will find both the overconfidence of the male singer and the shyness and attitude of the sixteen-year-old female dishwasher extremely familiar in others and in possibly themselves. Many of us, with great shame, may also relate to the clueless tourists aboard in their oversized Western glory. (In all fairness I have seen Chinese tour groups in Orlando trying to queue and that would make quite the documentary as well) If you are actually looking for a film about the Three Gorges Dam and the social, economic and environmental toll it has taken I have a feeling you may go away disappointed. This is a rather intimate story about a poor family with some additional commentary on another young man and occasional trips with the tourists on the boat. Up the Yangtze is a wonderful visit with some young people starting out in life with all the overconfidence and fears that entails mixed with a turbulent time. It is also a very perceptive film willing to take a bite out of both over the top Chinese propaganda and plump elderly western tourists. I enjoyed my brief visit to this world. See more

Sep 13, 2013 Poignant heart wrenching POV See more

Apr 7, 2013 a total must-see! loved everything about it. deeply moving piece. See more

Dec 6, 2012 Documentary on the effects of building a hydroelectric dam and flooding part of the Yangtze. Sad to see the people displaced. But interesting to see how some of the people attempt to better their situation by working for the rich tourists on a cruise boat. See more

Jun 12, 2012 Didn't really do it for me. Any documentary with that much coverage of ostensibly spontaneous events seems problematic. I guess I was just spoiled by Werner Herzog. Parts are compelling, but the whole thing just sprawls on and on. See more

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Up the Yangtze

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