This documentary won Sundances 2019 Documentary Grand Prize. After becoming a mother, a filmmaker uncovers the untold history of China's one-child policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment. The world has been blind to the horrors of China's one child policy that lasted from 1979-2015 and it's implementation. This documentary is an eye opener.
One of the most moving parts of the documentary was the filmmakers interview with the artist who found aborted babies in garbage heaps and sought to perserve their humanity and memory in his art. Another hero in the movie is a journalist who is in exile for reporting on the Chinese government's complicity in and profiteering from human trafficking.
I can relate. When we adopted Emma, we paid a chinese travel agency 2,000.00 for our guide and driver, but the agency was currupt and kept the money and told the guide and driver we would pay them. We were told by the agency that they were paid, but to make sure you tip them at the end. At the end, we tipped them and our guide Sarah said, "Is this the pay for my driver and I for 2 weeks of work?" I said, "No, its just your tip. Your agency said they paid you." When I told her what we paid the agency for them, she was shocked and appauled! We both cried and Keith and I tried to pay them more, but she wouldn't accept. She said, our government and agencies are corrupt, not you... you have paid more than enough. She cried and thanked us for adopting these children. As our guide, she protected us so many times... our hotel tried to over charge us because we were "Rich Americans" and offered to give her a cut, which she refused. We didn't speak the language, but saw her get angry and she told us what they were trying to do. There were so many instances, I can't even recount, where she protected us. When we got home, we told our agency everything and they ditched the corrupt travel agency and hired Sarah and her driver directly for all their Chinese adoptions after that. Eventually, Sarah married and american and moved to the U.S. and tried to expose the corruption from the government officials all the way down to the orphanage workers that took our donations of clothes and shoes for the children in the orphanage and sold them on the street for profit... Her emails were shut down and the government officials silenced her by threatening to harm her family if she didn't shut up...
Back to the documentary... These women couldn't protect their child during pregnancy or after their child was born. The government forced abortions on many women and if the child was born the midwife was ordered to kill them. The midwife who killed over 60,000 babies was awarded by their President. Then there were human traffickers who would take children and sell them to orphanages. The orphanages would in turn profit as much as 25,000.00 for the children.
The way the government used propaganda to brain wash the people was disgusting! They had to get the people to believe that the "One Child Rule" was best for everyone...
The girls and I cried together during and after the movie. They had lots of feelings and questions. Ellie didn't sleep last night. Her nightmares were full of all the ways she could have been killed like so many babies in China. This morning she said she is so thankful to be alive and hurts for all the innocent children and parents and officials who were forced to carry out dispicable orders.
Tomorrow night, I will be video chatting with the mom's in my Athen's adoption group about this documentary... My friend, Cathie Zinn said that her daughter Madison, a year older than Ellie, saw it the other night and told her mom to watch it. That's why all the mom's are video conferencing about it, we want to be prepared to help our girls... They are now offering DNA testing for the children and parents to reconnect. That will be another conversation...
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