Aftershock (Tang shan da di zhen) 2010

In Tangshan, Da Qiang, his wife Yuan Ni and their twins Fang Da, their son, and Fang Deng, their daughter, are a happy simple family. On 27 July 1976, a devastating earthquake destroys Tangshan, and Da Qiang dies while trying to rescue his children from their apartment. When a collapsed beam traps Fang Da and Fang Deng, Yuan Ni is forced to decide between saving her son or daughter and she chooses Fang Da. However, her daughter Fang Deng overhears her mother's choice and miraculously survives. She is rescued by a soldier and adopted by Mr. Wang and his wife with the name Wang Deng. Thirty-two years later, after an earthquake in China, Wang Deng, now married to a Canadian lawyer and living in Vancouver with her daughter, travels to China and voluntarily joins the rescue team. By chance she meets Fang Da and she learns the drama of Yuan Ni through all those years. The family is finally reunited at Yuan Ni's home, where bitterness is exposed and resolved.

Director: Feng Xiaogang

Stars: Fan Xu, Zhang Jingchu, Li Chen, Zhang Zi-feng

JDramaMama's Rating: D

I just can't get with this adoration of boy children that the Chinese have and how quickly they are willing to throw away little girls. When I first saw this movie, I was so saddened that a mother wouldn't give her life to try and rescue BOTH her children, but then I realized that this is how it is in Chinese culture. The boy is a "little emperor", and the little girls are disposal. I didn't like this movie - it was gloomy, it made me anxious and sad. It was too heartbreaking, the earthquake scenes were reviting and very realistic. I didn't care for the mother at all. As a mother, I would have died in place of my child or we would have all died together but to have a child overhear that you value her brother's life more than hers, was too much. I'm glad the writer gave the girl some redemption in the end.

#China #suspense #family #drama