Film Review

Super : a film directed by Xiaoning Feng, produced by Beijing Xin Ying Lian Film Co., 1

Xiaoli Lu Crisis Research Centre, Leiden University and Stephenson Disaster Management Institute, Louisiana State University Email: [email protected]

This film has been billed as “the first super disaster movie of China” by its director, Mr. Feng Xiaoning. The total investment of this film is about 18 million Chinese yuan (about $US 2.63 Million), part of which is from the government of Province, City and Taizhou City. It garnered an impressive 10 million-plus Chinese yuan in its first weekend. This film competed well in the 2008 Film Festival. The story is based on a real catastrophe caused by typhoon “Saomai”, which struck the coastal city Wenzhou in Zhejiang province on August 10, 2006. In order to bring great visual effects to the movie, Mr. Feng and his film crew spent three months in capturing the scenes of a real storm in Zhejiang Province. I just finished field research in Wenzhou city in September, so I will review this film based on what I have learned on site. The film begins when a typhoon named Blue Whale approaches China's southern coast and heads for a densely populated city. Mayor Xu faces various kinds of uncertainties, which include (1) which specific city will be the target of this super typhoon, (2) can the dam of reservoir bear the pressure of emerging floods caused by the storm, and (3) is evacuation of this city with millions of people necessary? In my interviews, I learnt that these uncertainties created real dilemmas for decision makers. Deciding to drain water from the reservoirs, which is utilized for hydroelectric production and irrigation, would cause an economic loss for the company that operates the reservoirs. Deciding not to drain water may threaten communities downstream. Typhoon evacuation is costly in terms of capital and governmental credibility, particularly when the typhoon does not strike as predicted. However, deciding not to evacuate is even more costly when a hurricane does strike. In this decision making process, Meteorologist Cheng, advisor of Mayor Xu, disagrees with the advice of other experts and insists that this typhoon will strike the city. In reality, face-to-face interviews during field research in Wenzhou city, in September of 2008 indicate that there are not many quarrels in crisis group decision making in China. Personal onsite observations indicate that advisory departments report their own prediction, other departments share their response information and the plans, and then the Mayor makes a final decision. There is no need for quarrels about conflicting information because every department takes responsibility for its own

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information and function as specified in emergency planning. This is the result of strict top-down government structure and the newly designed strict accountability system in China. After deciding to evacuate, governmental officials find it difficult to implement the decision. In this film, a man who comes ashore from a nearby island to buy supplies for his pregnant wife cannot go back because all ferries stop running. This prompts him to hijack a boat. A bailiff whose daughter is getting married neither refuses to cancel the wedding party nor participate in typhoon preparedness. He is dismissed for neglect of duty by the mayor, although he performed well in hurricane response in the past. In a small town near the sea, fisher men who consider their boats as their own lives refuse to go ashore because strong winds could blow the boats against the bank and destroy them. In my interviews, I found that many residents think they know how to respond appropriately because they grew up with . However, they didn’t experience a real super typhoon. There are also many peasants workers who earn a living in this area but they are from inland areas. Consequently, they find it difficult to make sense of what happened during typhoon season because they faced a situation that completely exceeds their previous experience. After typhoon Saomai , these people understand well the power of typhoons and coordinate well with the government. This film depicts the changes of doctrine in typhoon response. Meteorologist Cheng aspires to be an expert in typhoon forecasting after her father’s death caused by inappropriate disaster response ideology during the last major typhoon to hit this city in 1956. The doctrine dominating typhoon response at that time prompted people to believe that they could confront natural disasters. For example, if a dam burst under the weight of water, the Party leaders led people into the river to prevent the flood from destroying public properties. Many lives were lost because of this kind of stupid behavior. Interviews in Wenzhou during field research indicates that after typhoon #9417 in 1994, governments began to gradually change their disaster response ideology and rely more on anticipatory responses such as evacuating the public in potentially dangerous areas. In conclusion, the film Super Typhoon works at several levels. It communicates the effort and progress that the local level of Chinese government has made in recent years, including ideological changes in disaster response and newly-built accountability systems. This movie uses almost real scenery to convey the complexity, urgency, and uncertainty of disaster decisions and typhoon evacuation to the public. This is helpful for foreign researchers in this area to make sense of Chinese typhoon response. Like many other films, this film also gives prominence to individual heroism which may satisfy the audience, but may not accurately reflect what happened in China. I recommend foreign researchers to see this film to learn how China has designed its disaster management.

1 Many thanks to Dr. Arjen Boin for helpful comments on this film review

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