BEHEMOTH is a grim and grimy Chinese documentary looking at the impoverished lives of workers in a mine and steel factory in the north of the country. It feels very much like a real-life GERMINAL, full of depressing visuals of a broken and run-down landscape. The depiction of human life at its most base is heartbreaking at times. Intellectually, I wished this documentary had more narration - the only spoken words are poetry - to give context to go along with the visuals, but those visuals are powerful enough to stand on their own.
7.6Keywords: chinapollutioncoalindustrialisation
Plot summary
Under the sun, the heavenly beauty of grasslands will soon be covered by the raging dust of mines. Facing the ashes and noises caused by heavy mining , the herdsmen have no choice but to leave as the meadow areas dwindle. In the moonlight, iron mines are brightly lit throughout the night. Workers who operate the drilling machines must stay awake. The fight is tortuous, against the machine and against themselves. Meanwhile, coal miners are busy filling trucks with coals. Wearing a coal-dust mask, they become ghostlike creatures. An endless line of trucks will transport all the coals and iron ores to the iron works. There traps another crowd of souls, being baked in hell. In the hospital, time hangs heavy on miners' hands. After decades of breathing coal dust, death is just around the corner. They are living the reality of purgatory, but there will be no paradise.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU 811.06 MB
1280*672
Chinese 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
Reviewed by
A grim and gloomy Chinese documentary
Reviewed by
Staggering visuals leave a sobering message
This film takes us to a number of gasp-worthy and infrequently filmed places--deep into a mine and into a steel mill where workers sling around white-hot molten metal. The technical quality of the images is extraordinary, heightening the impact.
After seeing the effects of these industries on the environment, we then see footage of the effects on people who work there. The only narration is adapted from Dante's "The Divine Comedy." That was a brilliant idea, letting the visuals essentially speak for themselves.
Reviewed by
Behemoth, Mankind, Destroyer
Wow..
This is a horrific piece; but a piece of art, I believe.
An elegy, a love poem, to mother nature. A sad sight to behold, but a magnificent portrayal of the evil, greediness that is uprooted the earth.
Mysteriously hypnotizing; mystical. Beautiful cinematography, haunting visuals, eerie soundtrack; though the equipment itself plays a soundtrack of it's own: horror. This is a horror symphony of it's own. Though, not a conventional horror; horror, at our own kind; what we can do to ourselves, and our earth. A dreamy, almost ethereal narration. A combination of pure beauty visual, with poetry; help to elevate this to a piece of art; visual poetry.
This may well be, most definitely is one of the best films I've seen, this year.
A masterpiece. A Gem; exposure, to the unsung heroes of our time.
Not for the faint-hearted.
I implore you to watch this piece.
*Spoiler*
One of the last shots, sums it all:
'All the sacrifices, transmuted into steel'
All the pain, sacrifice, and disease, that the workers will go through, to merely create a piece of steel, transmuted, to go into our cities, where people live happily, with huge wealth, and the people in the mines, have sacrificed themselves, for their steel.....