Subscription 790/year or 190/quarter

The triumph of self-destruction

Last Days in Shibati
Regissør: Hendrick Dusollier
(Frankrike)

Who do we become when the place we come from disappears?




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

French director Hendrick Dusollier's first documentary depicts the last days of Shibati, the only remaining old town in the Chinese city of Chongqing. Many people in Europe have probably never heard of this place, but Chongqing is one of the largest cities in the world with its over 30 million inhabitants – six times the population of Norway – within one urban area.

The city itself looks like any modern Asian metropolis, with tall buildings and shopping malls. To give more room to these, the government is demolishing old streets and buildings one by one. For a period of seven months, Dusollier follows the changes in the last old Chongqing district as it goes toward total destruction. The residents of Shibati are moving out, one after the other, either to settle down with relatives or in state-allocated suburban apartments. The film is about emotions related to the area, and about the encounters with the people who lived there. The resolution that follows the destruction of the neighborhood is visible in all the sentimental and bittersweet details captured by the camera.

Modernization in China has the character of a tidal wave that sweeps away absolutely everything that is old.

On borrowed time. For many years now, stories of people opposing the state's demolition of their hometown headlines in Western media. A few years ago, for example, an elderly married couple in Wenling, Zhejiang Province, were the last residents of China who refused to sign an agreement allowing their house to be leveled. This resulted in the authorities building a planned road around the building instead. This is how China got another one nail house – "nail house" – the only houses that remain after everything around them is destroyed. The nail houses are left as tiny totems from a past that is about to be swallowed by the future – because when it comes down to it, it is only a matter of time before they also disappear.

Places and people. When Dussolier begins recording, Shibati's disappearance is also just a matter of time. Modernization in China has the character of a tidal wave that sweeps away absolutely everything old and replaces it with something new; new roads, new high-rise apartments and new shopping malls are popping up everywhere and almost overnight. This development leaves little room for the nostalgic and reflections on what may be lost in the change process.

The film creates the necessary space for such reflection and agitates to bring back the intimacy between people and place. It also captures the important sense of belonging, where people create their surroundings and the surroundings create their people, and where the way you both are and live seems so naturally rooted to the neighborhood that you hardly imagine who you become when the neighborhood no longer exists . The disappearance of an urban area means the end of an entire society, for the inhabitants' way of life disappears at the same time – whether it consists of selling food, cutting hair or sorting garbage. This is how the social ties between neighbors are cut.

Glitter and rubbish. As he roams the Shibati, Dusollier finds something extraordinary in two incomparable local "guides" he befriends; one is a little boy named Zhou Thong, the other an amazing old lady, Xue Lian. Zhou Thong gets curious about Dussolier, offering him to show him "Moonlight City". One would think this was a temple or spectacular view, but when the walk ends, the two are at a mall covered with TV screens and lights. For the boy this is the fascinating unknown, a place where he is not really allowed to travel.

Nail house – "nail houses" – called buildings that are left after everything around them has been demolished and something new has come into place.

The second guide, Xue Lian, may at first glance appear simply as a garbage collector. "My life is very rich," she says to begin with, and at the end of the film, there is no doubt that the statement sums up exactly how her life is. Xue Lian is incredibly creative, open and optimistic. She collects the most surprising items from the garbage and brings these new life to the imaginative, secret hooks that she spells out in the neighborhood. Her favorites are a large half-horse statue and a giant mushroom, two unusual objects that look surreal at her home and make you wonder who might have thrown them. Xue Lian's world is far too sophisticated to be contained in a single description; some such is also unnecessary since what she shows speaks for itself. "I'm going to travel to France through your photographs," she tells Dussolier. But the fact is that she travels much further than that.

Body without heart. Xue Lian seems flattered that the filmmaker is curious about her. Towards the end of the film, we are curious about her as well, and are both amazed and troubled by the piece of magic she represents and about what will happen to her next.

As I write this, Shibati is already gone. With its labyrinthine streets, the area was a time capsule, a reminder of the city's birth and a lifestyle that steadily disappears at full speed. If you look at the map, Shibati was in the heart of the city, as a starting point. What is left of the heart now is this movie.

November 22 won Last Days in Shibati The Special Jury Award in the IDFA Competition for
Mid-Length Documentary 2017.

Bianca-Olivia Nita
Bianca-Olivia Nita
Nita is a freelance journalist and critic for Ny Tid.

You may also like