"那是你们科学家的事. 我不懂." (That's the business of you scientists, I don't know anything about it.)
The statement is a reminder of Walt Disney who challenged, and eventually moved, the authorities. Like what happened in the simple film of loneliness, friendship, love, courage and perseverance that I just saw - Trail of the Panda 熊猫回家路.
A young boy, Xiao Lu, goes against all odds to save and return a baby panda to his mother, a journey that eventually earns him the fatherly love of the man, Lao Chen, who has taken him in after Xiao Lu's parents perished in a fire the previous year, and the respect of a scientist, Xiao Feng, from the city who has hired Lao Chen to help find a panda for his research work in the early days of panda conservation in Sichuan, China.
In this incredibly simple film, there are only 8 characters - 3 of the human kind, 3 of the panda kind (a panda other and 2 twin cubs, one of which strayed, hunted but rescued by Xiao Lu called Pang Pang) and 2 hunting dogs. But wait a minute, the film is alive with snow covered mountains, deep forests, gushing rivers and plunging waterfalls of Sichuan so I guess these natural sights are characters in their very own right.
All these magnificent characters come together to tell one very linear and yet moving storyline - the focused effort of a young boy in search of a new sense of belonging in the wake of his parents' deaths that results in the rescue and friendship of Pang Pang. And then his selfless and relentless determination to return Pang Pang to his mother in order to protect him although this means another painful loss of a loved one, almost too much for one so young. As the story unfolds, he does not know it yet but the audience does, through his selfless act, he has indeed gained more - a new father.
The little one has taught the adults what they cannot see with their eyes when their hearts are shut. That the living wild offers so much depth that we, the civilised ones, cannot yet claim we have known them so thoroughly. Like the "fact" that adult pandas have the capacity to only care for one cub but Pang Pang's mother has continued to search for him days after his disappearance. Maybe the universal mother's love prevails, the film seems to assert. And this author seems to have been sold on the idea. Such is the magic of Disney films.
I like the film for its simplicity. I like it for its focus. There are no wasted shots. They are all just enough to convey a message or certain emotions. If there is any weakness, I would wish for certain parts to be lengthened so that the audience could sink into the moment and let our emotions develop before we're treated to the next set of feelings. However, I can understand the need for the director to keep the momentum here for a dialogue and character driven film such as this. Speaking of which, if the film had been in native Sichuan dialogue, it'd be even better because there is no way a Sichuanese will converse in regular Mandarin with their own people - not those from the city and much less the rural folks.
I like it for its Disneyishness. That many things aren't just what they appear to be. That facts can still be challenged. That authority may not always be right. But the heart is.
For all these, I shed a tear or two. At the start of the movie when Mao Mao, the mother panda which perished during the 5.12 earthquake, appeared with her cubs. And near the end credits with a sweeping panning shot of the pre-quake Wolong facility that nestled in the valleys of some very aweinspiring snow-capped mountains, my tears (to quote from the film) "比山上的雪水流的还要快" (flow faster than the melted snow water from the the mountain).
So I'm not unemotional even if I didn't feel nothing for Jacko's passing. It's just that, I have other priorities, other things in this world, no matter how big or how small, that are more worth my caring for.
