Synopsis
The bureaucratic machinery of the Chinese political system quickly and effectively slowed the spread of coronavirus early in the crisis, but at the cost of more rigorous control and restriction of the rights of the citizens. The film raises the question whether it is more important to preserve personal freedom of individuals during a pandemic or health of the whole society. The raw footage, secretly filmed by amateur cameramen, shows the reality of life in the closed city of Wuhan, its desolate streets and strictly guarded medical facilities. To what extent can the state interfere in the lives of its citizens when a global humanitarian disaster is at stake?“I am very pessimistic about what we will learn from this. I think that things will return to normal, people will simply take off their masks and throw them away into the rubbish bin.” Ai Weiwei