This Chinese film, directed by Ke Dingding and Guo Jing, reveals the ever-so-harsh life of children attending the prestigious Shanghai Circus School. While the film needs some tidying, it is an unflinching look inside a school that builds the world's finest acrobats (with all due respect to our own Canadian institution, Cirque d'Soliel). The style, completely void of any voiceover or narrative, works despite the subtitle errors, and the need for a tighter re-work of the material. I also found the ending flat, despite a spectacular performance by the little lad below. You leave this film conflicted. You feel such sadness for the kids and the regime of practice (regularly to the point of tears) they endure, and for the way they are harassed, belittled and bullied by their teachers, the principal and their own parents. It forces questions you need to face, like, should I go watch and support this school when it swings into Toronto knowing what I've now seen? I suspect for many of these kids, life in the Shanghai Circus School is far better than the life they may have led in their own small towns and villages. For raising this conflict to the surface, my rating 7 out of 10.
My rating 7 out of 10.
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