Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks - Part 2: Remnants

Tiexi qu

China

2003

135 Min

Color

1.33:1

Mandarin

Currently 4.7/5 Stars.
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Filmed over the course of two years between 1999 and 2001 and details the slow decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. With the move towards other industries, however, the factories of Tiexi have all begun to be closed down, and with them, much of the district’s worker-based infrastructure and social constructs. Over 9 hours long, the film consists of three parts, “Rust,” “Remnants” and “Rails.”

“Remnants”
The second part, “Remnants” follows the families of many of the workers in an old state-run housing block, “Rainbow Row.” In particular, Wang focuses on the teenage children who concern themselves with their own lives but must also cope with their inevitable displacement as Tie Xi’s factories continue to close down. —Wikipedia

Director

Wang Bing

Wang Bing (Chinese: 王兵; pinyin: Wáng Bìng) (born 1967 in Shaanxi) is a Chinese director, often referred to as one of the foremost figures in documentary film-making. Wang is the founder of his own production company, Wang Bing Studios, which produces most of his films. Wang’s 9 hour epic documentary of industrial China, Tie Xi Qu was considered a major success. Tie Xi Qu went on to win the Grand Prix at the Marseille Festival of Documentary Film and was shown for the first time in Spain at the Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival. Wang’s film, Fengming, a Chinese Memoir, premiered at both Cannes and Toronto in 2007. More recently Crude Oil premiered at the 2008 Rotterdam Film Festival. —Wikipedia

Wall

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DT

24Jan13

Remnants: the residents of Tie Xi at large, their relationships, friendships and amusements that, other than the shanty surroundings, aren’t atypical of any other community of peoples. But the fallacy of the collectivist cause over their individual struggles - in truth united only by their uniform hardship - with the imposition of an impersonal state, present, beyond the daily diversion, the harsh reality of this state-sanctioned, utopian society.