The New York Sun reviews Blind Mountain (盲山), Li Yang’s movie about human trafficking, which is being released in New York this week:
Of all the recent movies to tackle the terrifying issue of human trafficking (including the crude and manipulative “Trade” and the eerily calm and cynical “Holly”), none has evoked the anxiety, despair, or sheer outrage to be found in “Blind Mountain,” which opens tomorrow at Film Forum. The film’s explosive climax drew spontaneous emotional outbursts from audiences during its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, and it came as no surprise when reports surfaced that Chinese officials forced the director, Li Yang, to make several last-minute changes to the film, which, on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, paints a less-than-encouraging portrait of the nation.
Set in the early 1990s, “Blind Mountain” unfolds so quickly and with such brutal assuredness that we never question the authenticity of the predicament into which young Bai Xuemei (Huang Lu) is tossed.
You can watch the shooting of scenes of the movie via YouTube:
Read another review of the film here.
