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See the world of a small Chinese town through the eyes of the People's Armed Police, a paramilitary group charged with maintaining order in a nation of 1.3 billion people.
Zhao Liang's sharp eye captures the casual violence of police interrogations and sometimes astounding levels of incompetence. But the film's careful structuring also reveals the ways in which the state uses these men, luring them into police service with the possibility of a job for life and a place on the authoritarian ladder. In reality, most are quickly discarded after a year or two of service and dropped back into the sea of impoverished humanity they came from. There are no heroes or villains here - just young men caught up in a cycle that ultimately keeps most of them as powerless as the villagers they lord over.
“Cements China's position as a doc powerhouse.” - Variety
D Zhao Liang P Sylvie Blum, Nonglux Thongdard L Mandarin w/English subtitles TD digibeta/2007
Read curator Dan Edwards' extended article on Chinese indie documentary at Senses of Cinema.