'Til Madness Do Us Part (2013) - Notes

Finally, I have got the privileged chance to view another incredible film by arguably China's leading contemporary filmmaker Wang Bing.

Til Madness Do Us Part is another shining example of Wang Bing's unique and thoughtful approach to documentary filmmaking. Creating very little artifice, using long takes, focusing on the mundane, attempting to be completely observational - all of these are substantial elements to his approach.

One scene that really sticks out is when a man starts doing running laps of the block and the cameraman (I've read that Wang had one other cameraman with him beside himself for this project) begins to chase and film him. In an interview with Film Comment* Wang describes how detrimental the approach to filming this scene was - "We tried a fixed-camera setup for the running scene, but I felt that the fixed camera couldn’t quite create a connection between the audience and the inner world of this person. I felt that only by running with him we could express his anxiety and restlessness.". That quote alone could sum up Wang Bing and his approach to filmmaking.

Til Madness Do Us Part is bleak and uncompromising, a result of a corrupt country that neglects its own people. The fact that Wang left any information about the place and these people till after the film was done is important - it avoids creating a predisposition in the audience, it allows us to come to our own judgements based completely on what we see and observe.

Now, how uncompromising this film is is a strength and a weakness. There are definitely some questionable ethics in what Wang Bing films and the permission he has attained to film such things - he attained permission to film these people and this place but who from? The doctors? The local government? Or the individuals being observed? That then brings in the difficult question of whether some of these individuals could even truly speak on behalf of themselves. With scenes observing men urinating or getting changed in the privacy of their rooms (well, complete lack of privacy for the most part) it's hard to not question where the line is. But this isn't black and white, Wang Bing doesn't use or portray this documentary for any sort of entertainment, this isn't exploitation - it's very much the opposite.

Whilst Wang Bing's approach often pursues a completely "fly on the wall" observational style, it's how sympathetic (in a natural and non-artificial way) it comes across that makes it stand apart from the rest.

*www.filmcomment.com/blog/interview-wang-bing/