The documentary, Ai Weiwei Never Sorry, directed by Alison Klayman, is about Ai Weiwei’s art and his influence on china. Ai Weiwei’s art reflects on the government and how they treat the regular citizen. The main purpose of the film is to show the true nature of the Chinese government. In 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested for being so outspoken against the government. This documentary does an excellent job of showing the public response to Ai Weiwei’s arrest. “What can they do to me? none other than deportation, kidnapping and imprisonment, or make me completely vanish. @aww.”
Some themes that were in this documentary include hope, fear, censorship, and standing up for what you believe in. Hope is the driving force for Ai Weiwei. The only reason why he does what he does is because he believes that there is a chance for a better China. Another theme in the film is fear. Ai Weiwei is always living in fear. Ai Weiwei has to act brave even when he is afraid. He says “If you don’t act, the danger becomes stronger.” We also see fear in The Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang. The Jiang family is living in constant fear of the red guards and being arrested. They deal with this fear in a very different way than Ai Weiwei. Ai Weiwei acts brave while the Jiang family has trouble sleeping. Another theme that we see in the documentary Ai Weiwei Never Sorry is censorship. The film shows how much the Chinese government censors the internet. The Chinese government blocks twitter and they withheld the names of all of the kids that died in the Sichuan earthquake. Ai Weiwei's name is one of the many things that China censors on the internet. "They all ask: Why? Why is it that this man’s name [Ai Weiwei] can never be typed on a Chinese computer or the whole sentence will disappear?" The final, and most important theme in this film is stand up for what you believe in. Ai Weiwei stands up for what he believes in even though it endangers him. Ai Weiwei is also a very inspirational person. At the demolition of Ai Weiwei’s art studio, hundreds of people came, even though they put themselves in danger. "Citizens should bear the responsibility to act."
The quality of this film was phenomenal. As a viewer, I was able to relate it to real life. We hear lots of news from China these days, and the documentary on Ai Weiwei showed a first hand experience on what was going on in China. In many of Ai Weiwei’s art pieces, he is giving the middle finger. Ai Weiwei used this symbol to show his displeasure about the current Chinese government. The documentary uses the symbol and the meaning of the middle finger to great affect.
This film was very interesting, It gave the viewers a real sense of what is going on in China today with all of the internet censorship.
