Free China: The Courage to Believe

The film tells the story of two Falun Gong practitioners - former Chinese Communist Party member Jennifer Zeng and Dr. Charles Li, now a businessman and US citizen who watch their fathers persecute the party. Years later, both see themselves in Chinese prisons, where they are engaged in the forced production of slippers with the image of Homer Simpson , as well as the famous Nestle toy animals. Zeng is imprisoned when her beliefs become known to those who watch the Internet, and Li after trying to disable news broadcasting on television. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

• Jennifer Zeng - The author of the book “The History of Testimony: One Chinese Woman's Fight for Freedom ” ( English Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman's Fight for Freedom ).
• Dr. Charles Lee is a Sino-American businessman who claims to have survived a labor camp.
• David Kilgour is a former member of the Canadian House of Commons .
• Christopher Smith - American politician, congressman and chairman of the Commission of Congress and the executive branch of the United States for China .
• Ethan Gutman - writer, author of The Slaughter: Mass Killings, Organ Harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident, and The Losing New China: A History of Trade , Desires, and Betrayal. ”( Losing The New China: A Story of Commerce, Desire, and Betrayal ). An employee of The Wall Street Journal Asia .

• American INSIGHT at the 2012 Free Speech Film Festival. ^[four]

Film critic John Defort in Hollywood Reporter wrote: ^[1]

These two stories about the political conclusion (and the subsequent efforts of each of the characters to bring this to the general public) are intertwined with a summary of the story of Falun Gong, which leaves much to be desired even for viewers who do not expect critics of this group to say something. We get only very scarce information about their spiritual beliefs, we don’t learn anything about how the movement originated, and we don’t hear any theories about why Western journalists devoted so little space to this confrontation in recent decades.
We hear a lot about the sins of the Chinese government - from the Golden Shield (thanks to Cisco Systems and Google !) To the allegations that prisoners are being killed in order to sell their organs. But much of this is best studied elsewhere; empathic viewers wish that most of the time be spent on the essence of the movement, which inspires such fears in the Chinese authorities.

Original text

These two tales of political imprisonment (and of each subject's post-prison efforts to raise global awareness) are interwoven with an outline of Falun Gong history that leaves something to be desired even for viewers who don't expect the group's critics to have a say . We get only the most vague information about their spiritual beliefs, learn nothing about how the movement began and hear no theories about why Western journalists have paid so little attention to this conflict in the last decade.
We do hear a good deal about the Chinese government's sins, from the Great Firewall (thanks, Cisco Systems and Google!) To allegations that prisoners were killed so their organs could be sold. But much of this has been better explored elsewhere; sympathetic viewers will wish the time had been spent offering more insight into the nature of the movement that has inspired such fear in China's rulers.

The New York Times columnist David Devitt noted that in the film, Falun Gong is “ presented as a spiritual movement combining traditional qigong exercises with Buddhism and Taoism, so popular that it threatens paranoid Chinese bureaucracy, and is so wonderful that it gets the support of Charles Li and Jennifer Zeng, who are interviewed in the middle of the film . ” DeWitt points out that both characters " radiate goodwill and tell how they were imprisoned and tortured for their beliefs ." In the end, he concludes that “Free China: The Courage to Believe” is not news , like a film, or a work of art. DeWitt believes this to be “ Propaganda. And strives for this goal . ” ^[2]

Los Angeles Times columnist Sheri Linden said that “the film directed by Michael Perlman sounds like an informational advertisement in "Falun Gong, full of obscure subtleties about the newfangled spiritual practice that has developed from Taoism and Buddhism ." In general, she came to the conclusion that despite the fact that the director of the film “ understands the subject matter is often superficial, ” he nonetheless “ provides clear evidence of the wider implications, especially for Western consumers, ” and that “ Perlman ’s film is not a final study of this topic, but it opens the eyes of Western consumers to the terrifying reality behind many of the Made in China labels . ” ^[3]

• Kilgour - Matas Report

• Official Website on the New Tang Dynasty Television Channel
• Free China: The Courage to Believe on the Internet Movie Database