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World AIDS Day at SBU |
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To Live is Better Than To Die |
by Yuyu Shen
“To Live is Better
than to Die” is a 2003 documentary film directed and produced by Chinese
documentary maker Chen Wei Jun. It was shown simultaneously around the
world as an activity for World AIDS Day, and it was shown in the Wang
Center at Stony Brook as part of our World AIDS Day activities. This movie
has had several honors since its first launch including the prestigious
Sundance Festival,
Europe
’s biggest documentary festival IDFA, and the Peabody Award. The movie
showed us the real story of how a family struggled with AIDS and poverty.
This is the family of
Chinese peasant Ma ShengYi in
Henan
Province
—out of five members in total, four of them were infected with HIV.
During the making of this documentary, the mother, Leimei died from AIDS,
leaving Ma Shengyi, who was also infected with HIV, to take care of their
three children, two of which were infected as well.
Both Ma Shengyi and his wife Leimei contracted HIV through unsanitary
blood selling. The two younger children were born with the virus. This
film covered the Ma family off and on for a year. Through the lens of this
film, the audience at Stony Brook had a chance to watch many things that
happened to this family. We watched how Leimei went through the process of
dying—from a woman that says she used to be fashionable with a proud
smile to someone who lies numbly with flies in her face. We watched her
going through unstable emotional conditions all the time until she was
finally too sick to do anything.
We watched how Ma Shengyi dealt with the loss of his wife and the thought
that he might also die soon, leaving the children with nobody. We watched
how the oldest daughter learnt about HIV and the fact that everyone in her
family was infected.
Even though this is a documentary film, it is indeed a very emotional
story. Most of the audience cried many times during the film. I personally
have not cried this much for a film in years.
However, the director tried to show us simple happiness and hope even in
such a desperate situation. He kept several scenes of the children playing
together, as well as Ma Shengyi playing with the children and dressing
them in new clothes at the Chinese New Year. These actions actually drew
the audiences closer to the Ma family and therefore made the viewers
experience emotions with greater force.
The director once said that he just wanted to bring the real lives of
people like Ma Shengyi to the many people out there, both in and out of
China
, that have never seen things like this and probably did not even know
that those things happened. It is obvious that he succeeded in doing so.
The Ma Shengyi foundation for the benefit of HIV infected people in
China
and their families is a direct result of this film.
The film is also used by many other organizations to raise awareness of
AIDS. The famous Chinese American AIDS researcher David Ho said that even
though he had seen many data and statistics about AIDS in
Henan
Province
, this film still shocked him.
It is a little strange to say that with a story like this, the Ma’s
family is not very atypical in their surroundings. Sadly, that is the
case. In the village where they lived, Wenlou, more than 30 percent of
people were infected with HIV. The struggles that most people encounter
only several times in a life time—such as poverty, serious illness, and
death, were part of their daily routines.
Most adults were infected by blood contact. Wenlou and several neighboring
villages had always been in poverty. During the mid nineties, adults in
the village started selling blood for money. The blood stations were often
equipped with poor sanitary environments and reused needles. HIV virus
quickly spread among the villagers in this way, and the adults passed the
virus to their kids by mother - infant contraction.
As many people got sick and lost the ability to work, the villages got
even poorer and more people had to sell their blood for money. Local
governments had been trying to cover up this information for a long time.
The director had to fight different kinds of obstacles in order to film
the Ma’s family successfully. Sometimes he had to dress up like a local
village person and hide the camera in garbage bags in order to get in.
Local police forces caught him for three times and locked him up and
destroyed all the tapes he had with him.
The good news is Ma’s family and others in Wenlou village are in a much
better situation now. After the effort of many people, the case of HIV
infection in Wenlou and other villages nearby had raised enough awareness
in
China
. The premier and vice premier of the central government recently visited
Wenlou village and spoke with the villagers. Now the government provides
free comprehensive medicine to the infected villagers, and provides
financial assistance to improve the villagers’ life in general.
The Chinese government has also started educational programs around the
whole country to teach AIDS and HIV related information and to battle
discrimination against infected people such as the villagers of Wenlou.
Besides the work of the government, many other foundations, both in and
out of
China
, have been raising money for the HIV infected people in
China
and their families. As a result, the lives of Ma Shengyi and his three
children have improved a lot. The son is five years old and healthy for
now. The younger daughter is much better than before, even though she has
to take large amounts of medicine everyday, and she has become a good
student in school. At least now there is hope.
For more information about the movie, visit its official website at www.toliveisbetter.com
For information about
how to help, contact “the Vision” chapter on Campus.
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