The World

The World A film by Jia Zhangke Date: 2005   —   DVD / VHS product page Rating:

Review of The World

I just finished watching "The World." The characters are workers in a real theme park in Beijing called The World Park that displays miniaturized versions of the most recognized places of interest in the world. It also has Las Vegas style dance numbers and huge subterranean world for the cast members.

The discrepancy between the accelerated urbanization of Beijing is contrasted against the workers social and economic lives. They use cell phones and text messages for everything yet still retain many traditional relationships and family values. Animation is used to go inside the minds of some of the characters. The World workers are lucky, they have jobs, relatively safe jobs, places to live and food to eat but in many ways they are isolated and lost.

This is the first film Jia Zhangke has shot with state approval, all his previous films were banned, underground works. It isn't clear why this was approved, unless the state sees the surreal mix that is China today as a positive step toward the future.

I found it to be a very interesting, amazing and yet incredibly troubling movie. The cinematography is fantastic.