The Chinese Mayor

The Chinese Mayor is a riveting documentary from 2015, directed by Zhou Hao and starring Li Fu, Ma Suying, Geng Yangbo. The film is a candid portrayal and deep exploration of the political infrastructure, governance, and societal transformations experienced in contemporary urban China. It's not just a documentary, but a genuine, hard-edged dive into the realm of Chinese local politics and the challenges of modern urbanization.

Geng Yangbo, the central figure of the film, is the charismatic and optimistic Mayor of Datong, a city in the Shanxi province of China. Geng, an influential figure with a bold vision, sets out on an ambitious endeavor: to transform the poor, decaying coal city of Datong into a cultural Mecca. His intricate plan involves the reconstruction of the city's historic walls, a project that would require relocating half a million residents- a step that would have profound cultural, human, and social impact.

Li Fu and Ma Suying, though not in an extensive role, present themselves as some of the many citizens of Datong who find themselves on the receiving end of this ambitious renewal project. They're part of the regular citizenry whose day-to-day lives are drastically affected and turned upside down by the city's transformative plans. Their story is one of a resilient struggle, a tug-of-war between the persistent human spirit and the unyielding machine of bureaucracy, politics, and governance.

The movie doesn't merely focus on the grand narrative of rapid urbanization; instead, it delves deeper to show the varying aspects of this immense metamorphosis. Inside this grand narrative, there are stories of relocation, resistance, hope, despair, and dichotomous contradiction of modernization causing destruction. Political machinations, power dynamics, socio-economic tremors, and the human faces amidst these transitions give the movie its breakthrough edge.

Geng Yangbo's character, the mayor with a bold mission, is fleshed out not only as a committed public servant but as an austerely empathetic individual who grapples with his self-imposed mission under mounting pressure and criticism. We get to see the hints of vulnerability masked by a public bravado, adding shades of complexity to his character.

Through Li Fu and Ma Suying's silver screen depiction, the audience gets a ground-level view of the reality of common inhabitants. Their strivings and adaptations amidst upheavals, their endurance and push-back, their acceptance and resentment, constitute a significant, impactful narration running parallel to the mayor's mission, representing the 'human cost' of monumental political ambition.

Despite being a documentary, the film has the depth, pace, and tension of a dramatic narrative. The immersive visuals of the city, both in its old form and amidst its transformation, and the life within it, are incredibly compelling. The camera functions as a keen observer, capturing the sights and sounds of Datong, the massive scale of the architectural knackering, and reconstruction, broodingly old structures giving way to new constructions, and amidst these, the inhabitants in their mundane ordinariness yet paramount earnestness.

The Chinese Mayor is more than a political or social documentary. It's a visually stark, emotionally rich, and intellectually stimulating exploration of the currents of transition fostered by a man's grand vision. It's an insight into the complexities and contradictions inherent in China's rapid urbanization, an intimate look at the beauty and the beast of progression, as well as the tales of diverse human spirits caught therein.

The film's 89-minute runtime is filled with mind-churning revelations, a kaleidoscopic view of the Chinese society, governance, and the human story. It offers an intriguing mixture of spectacle with satire, public service, politics, power play, and personal narratives amidst urban transformation. The Chinese Mayor meticulously weaves an intricate tapestry of Chinese society, its gritty realities, the fragility and strength of human spirit, and the transformative paradoxes of progress and development.