Umbrella...

Labourers, farmers, soldiers, students and sellers; five groups who were part of Chinese society in the 1950s. Since the late 1960s, living conditions improved and countless people traded the countryside for the city, hoping for a better life. In five chapters, Haibin Du follows these groups, which still exist. He films labourers in a factory where umbrellas are made, umbrella sellers at a wholesale warehouse, soldiers in training, students looking for a part-time jobs, and farmers waiting for the rain to come. The film was shot in the months leading up to, during and after the rainy Spring Festival. Without comment, music, or interviews, the director films the people and their activities. In the factory, the camera pans through the crowded hall, making it clear what high-speed assembly line work really entails. Next, we see equally static images of long aisles in a wholesale warehouse, and shops that all sell umbrellas. The people 'at home' still harvest the wheat by hand. A farmer wonders whether he should sell his land after another bad year for crops. As this subtle film indicates, China has become more prosperous, but not everybody is prospering.