With a duration of.just over two hours and a half, Youth (Homecoming) is a relatively short Bing Wang documentary. The other two parts of this triptych (2023’s Spring and Hard Times, which premiered earlier this year in Locarno) came in with a runtime of nearly four hours each. The approach of the three films is remarkably similar. There is no chronological and barely a narrative thread. They could have been cut into small pieces and reassembled into three films, and only the most attentive eyes would notice the difference. That’s presumably intentional: the Chinese filmmaker seeks to immerse viewers into the world of young Chinese migrant workers by forcibly locking them into a dark cinema cinema room for hours, without an intermission. Unless they keep checking their phone, most people lose the notion of time and space.
More than 300,000 Chinese migrant workers work in the roughly 18,000 textile workshops of Zhili, an industrial region of Northeastern China. They are mostly minors from the largely impoverished, rural and mountainous neighbouring areas. Filmed over five years between 2019 and 2024, Homecoming registers workers during winter. Just as the New Year holidays approach, and they are given the opportunity for return home for a short family visit. The weather if grey and bleak, and snow is a recurring sight. Sunlight is as scarce as cash.
This a story of hope and livelihood in the inescapable cold and darkness. These teenagers smile, laugh and horse around like any other adolescent anywhere else in the world would. And they dare to dream, despite little prospect of liberation. The winter break is just a short respite, a fleeting illusion of freedom. They must soon return to their repetitive duty, mostly on sewing machines crammed into tiny, often windowless rooms. Their employers – who almost never appear in front of the camera – have little concern for salubrity, safety and labour rights. The environment is piled with equipment and textiles. The facilities are precarious, and the large residence halls are overpopulated, with tiny rooms shared by multiple workers, and crumbling walls. The workers share terrifying stories with sheer casualness: someone got sucked by a conveyor belt and instantly killed, while others are asked to sew on their feet. A young male recounts how his mobile phone was “smashed to the pulp” during a freak car accident. The wages are very low and often delayed. Despite the poor working conditions and the hardship, these young people exude charm and joy.
About half of the film consists of the titular homecoming. Our countless protagonists travel to see their parents, siblings and extended families. The journey can be as daunting as their job, with extensive cliffside dirt roads constantly inviting death, while also providing the movie with the most astounding images. Upon arrival, they can mingle with their loved ones, and also join the celebrations. At least two weddings take place. The widespread presence of fireworks suggest the desire to commemorate something (even if the effect is precisely the opposite, at least to ears not used to such unpleasant and loud sounds).
Because of the fly-on-the-wall approach, and the choice to capture almost exclusively the most uplifting moments, it is difficult to establish whether Bing has set out to criticise the unfettered industrialisation of China, or to celebrate it. It is not clear whether the film was subjected to the country’s strict censorship. The government may have not allowed the sad and the tragic moments to be included into the story, forcing Bing to rely instead on the occasional anecdote (such as the conveyor belt death). One way or another, Youth (Homecoming) remains brutally authentic. These are young people doing what they know how to do best: enjoy life to the full, even at the face of adversity.
Youth (Homecoming) premiered in the Official Competition of the 81st Venice International Film Festival, when this piece was originally written. Also showing at IndieLisboa. The UK premiere takes place in October at the BFI London Film Festival.
