Deconstructing Abduction

After his 2013 film American Dreams in China stormed box offices across China on its way to a 540 million yuan take， Hong Kong director Peter Chan’s follow-up， Dearest， performed “moderately” at the box office despite overwhelming critical acclaim. Two weeks after it opened on September 26， Dearest had grossed 254 million yuan. Since he first started directing on the mainland 10 years ago， most of Chan’s work has generated heated debate， including American Dreams in China. With Dearest， however， he seems to have found consensus. The rave reviews use adjectives such as“sincere”， “profound”， and “touching and natural”. So， most attribute the film’s comparative box office shortcomings to its subject matter： Not many get excited about spending time and money on a depressing film about child abduction.

Child Found， Movie Not Over？

Although it features plenty of characters， the plot of Dearest is fairly simple： Tian Wenjun （Huang Bo） and Lu Xiaojuan（Hao Lei） have been married for many years. One day， their only son goes out to play and never comes back. The couple begins a tireless three-year search. During the process， they meet many parents who have endured the same experience.

Up until this point， the plot is straightforward and expected. However， quickly， the story begins to veer away from many other films about searching for missing children： Resident of a remote village， widow Li Hongqin （Zhao Wei） is learning to survive a year after her husband passed away from cancer. Before he died， he worked in Shenzhen as a migrant worker and ended up bringing back a baby girl and a small boy successively. Li， who is barren， was told by her husband that the children were abandoned and began raising them as her own. One day， the boy is violently taken away by several strangers. She learns from police that the boy was snatched by his real parents： Tian Wenjun and Lu Xiaojuan. After spending six months in a detention center， the heartbroken adopted mother embarks on a journey to fight with an orphanage in Shenzhen for custody of her “daughter”.

Such a film structure is not common.“The main character， Li Hongqin， doesn’t appear until the film is half over，” some spectators gasp. The plot is divided into two parts： The first is about finding the missing child， and the second reveals various social problems arising when a missing child is found. Through this structure， Chan illuminates many gray moral realms of child abduction.

Dearest is based on a true story. After his three-year-old son was abducted， Peng Gaofeng， a Hubei native working in Shenzhen， began tirelessly looking for the child. He launched a blog about the search and regularly outlined details of his quest on renowned Chinese internet forums， offered rewards for tips， and even formed a support group with other parents. Finally， he did get his son back， but it took three years. Peng was extremely lucky. According to partial statistics， in China， only about 0.1 percent of missing children are found.

Peng’s story doesn’t end with the return of his kid either. When he was found， the kid was six years old and quite attached to his foster mother. Peng even needed to “coax” him home. Even long after the boy returned home， he still cried at night and begged for “mommy”， which made Peng feel like he had “kidnapped my son a second time.”

Due to its complicated and heavy theme， Dearest hardly depicts absolute good and bad guys. The human trafficker， the only full-on villain in the movie， dies at the very beginning. His face doesn’t even appear on screen. Instead， the film depicts a world of imperfect people. In this sense， adopted mother Li Hongqin is not a very good person – her family receives abducted children despite her ignorance.

Realistic Topic

When Dearest hit big screens， many critics were surprised by Chan’s accurate yet vivid treatment of such a realistic topic. In recent years， the Chinese government has stepped up efforts to crack down on crimes related to child trafficking and established a series of long-term mechanisms including the launch of a DNA database. However， for any family， a missing child will always certainly be a major disaster.

The most striking feature of Dearest is its dual storylines： the family that lost their child and the family that raised the abducted child， simultaneously exhibiting the child trafficking phenomenon in China in a more comprehensive way. When parents form a support group， Chan is enabled to share even more stories from various families as well as their methods for dealing with such unimaginable heartache. Through stories of various characters， the film addresses a wider range of social problems. For example， what should parents do after their child goes missing？ Stick to searching and never have another kid or just return to normal life after the search comes up empty？

The other side of the story depicting the foster mother touches on other topics. As the wife of a human trafficker， after her“son” is taken away， Li Hongqin seeks to continue raising her “daughter” who was indeed abandoned rather than abducted. Of course， she doesn’t get the girl. “The system is a system. If the woman gets the girl because people feel sorry for her， what would that say about law and social order？”comments Chan.

By telling the story from two perspectives， Dearest shows concern for multiple themes found in contemporary Chinese society. This effort continues throughout the movie. For example， Tian Wenjun and Lu Xiaojuan divorce at the end， a very common fate for Chinese couples moving to big cities from smaller places. Their dreams gradually veer apart， their lives change， and they eventually break up. Other plot points such as the support group and how rural residents file a lawsuit address common social issues.

Down-to-Earth Director

After a decade of working on the Chinese mainland – whether musicals， martial arts or dramas – Chan seems to work with more ease and has honed methods to truly touch spectators’ hearts.

American Dreams in China’s 540 million yuan box office take made it the sev- enth biggest film on the Chinese mainland in 2013. The light-hearted yet inspirational Dreams surprised many filmmakers. In terms of shooting a localized and practical topic， he surpassed not only most Hong Kong directors， but quite a few Chinese mainland directors. This time， he takes a step further to shoot a kidnapping story， a phenomenon which happens in China today.

However， the cruel theme didn’t trump all consideration for commercial success. In an endeavor to “balance art and commerce in every film，” Chan invited a “luxurious” cast to appear in Dearest， in hopes of big names attracting bigger audiences to the comparatively gloomy film.

Chan has remarked that if the right opportunity comes up， he can return to Hong Kong to make a movie. However， he believes that now the Hong Kong film market is plagued by major problems which won’t be fixed by one or two hits or even a good year. “Small market and population” has always bottlenecked the development of Hong Kong films.