by Lisa Nystrom
Worth: $14.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jiawei Shen, Lan Wang
Intro:
… powerful and deeply personal …
Esteemed documentary editor turned director James Bradley delivers a powerful and deeply personal glimpse into the life of Chinese-Australian painter and winner of the 2006 Sir John Sulman Prize, Jiawei Shen. After a conversation with Shen over a decade ago where the artist first mentioned his vision of creating an elaborate 130 square metre painting depicting the entire history of Communism, Bradley turned on the cameras in December 2012, allowing the audience to witness as Shen’s vision took shape across the years.
Born in 1948 in China, Shen has experienced the tumultuous realities of a Communist regime, finding fame during the Cultural Revolution with his painting “Standing Guard for Our Great Motherland”, which was hung with pride at the 1974 National Art Exhibition in Beijing. Life took a quick turn however as the upheaval brought about by Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong ultimately resulted in a massive loss of life and forever impacted Shen’s own view of human nature.
By capturing everyday interactions in a distinctly natural and unobtrusive way, Bradley allows Shen the space to let his own narrative unfold, steadily painting the many faces of figures who exist splashed across the pages of history books, now and forever imprinted in Shen’s own memory.
In this documentary, Bradley and Shen are both detailing a history through the medium they know best, Bradley behind the camera and Shen behind the paintbrush. As he paints, Shen tells his own story of coming to Australia in the late ‘80s, going from renowned artist behind the most popular poster in China to drawing portraits for tourists in Sydney’s Circular Quay.
His wife Lan Wang, and their family followed after. Wang, a fellow artist in her own right, offers both loving and humorous commentary on her husband’s obsessive mission to create this next great work, scolding him that “at his age, he should take it easy”. Thankfully for the art world and for Bradley’s film alike, Shen doesn’t listen. The fire in his heart to see the project through, and the sheer talent he possesses is a privilege to witness. The history he immortalises with every stroke of his brush is a crucial reflection of the power of political ideologies gone too far, as relevant today as it was 50 years ago.
