Behemoth

On the fifth day, God created the beast Behemoth, the largest beast on earth. A thousand mountains yielded food for him. In Zhao Liang’s latest film the monster described in the “Book of Genesis” has materialized into a coalmine. With a constant and boisterous rhythm, it consumes more and more of China’s fertile soil and spits out iron ore, coal and stone.

Straddling the lines of the genres documentary and art film, we learn how China’s coal and steel industry inflict the deadly lung disease pneumoconiosis on millions of migrant workers. The film’s aesthetics emerge from a deliberate use of contrasts: beautiful landscape images shift to close-ups of worn out and dirty coal miners, and abrupt explosions break pleasant silence. Inspired by Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, the director reflects over China’s struggle to create a modernized paradise, and wonders if it is the opposite he sees; have they create a hell instead?

Zhao Liang is one of China’s most persistent and innovative documentary filmmakers. His 8 documentaries have received much interest internationally, but in China few people have seen them due to their politically sensitive subjects. With a strong sense of responsibility, he channels the voices of marginalized people in China against the oppressive government, using unconventional methods such as hidden camera.