By LaMar Going
“Unsilenced,” the new release from Peabody Award winning director Leon Lee, is a must-see thriller. It tells the true story of persecution, torture, and forced labor perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice centered on traditional Chinese culture and values.
Falun Gong espouses honesty, compassion, and tolerance, coupled with wholesome exercise and meditative practices. Founded in 1992, the movement grew to an estimated 100 million members by 1999, while CCP claimed 60 million. In a move to forestall the imbalance of power, CCP declared Falun Gong illegal.
The story follows PhD candidate Wang (Ting Wu) and three fellow students in their struggle to stay true to their beliefs and avoid the clutches of CCP heavyweight Secretary Yang (Wang Tzi-Chiang).
Wang and his friends are full of promise, potential, and naïveté. Initially they try to reason with officials, but they quickly find themselves in Yang’s crosshairs.
Yang, tasked by party leaders to annihilate Falun Gong, gives no quarter to practitioners. Those captured by his thugs suffer a grisly array of torture, enticed by false promises of leniency if they will denounce Falun Gong and offer information about the movement’s acolytes.
They are compelled to confront excruciating decisions as they struggle to remain steadfast in their spiritual beliefs and avoid capture. They soon find they must abandon studies, family, and employment, in favor of survival.
Throughout the story many Falun Gong practitioners are sent to forced labor camps where they suffer menticide, physical torture, and involuntary organ donation.
Elsewhere in Beijing we find American journalist Daniel Davis (Sam Trammell), a veteran of Chinese political upheaval who was forced to leave China in 1989 after reporting the atrocities of the Tiananmen Square massacre, where CCP killed scores of peaceful protestors.
The dissemination of unflattering truth is a sure-fire recipe for arrest or expulsion from China, and while Davis has returned to China after an extended absence, he is there to research a book, not to report the news. Nonetheless he is thrust into this story as it unfolds and is ultimately successful in bringing it to his American newspaper.
The making of “Unsilenced” is also a story of opposition, persecution, and the long reach of CCP. Impossible to film this story in China, it was filmed in Taiwan. Several cast members initially signed on only to renege, concerned they might hinder their acting careers in China, or that family members might be molested by CCP. Shooting locations that had been booked far in advance became unavailable as word got out about the subject matter of the film.
On one location the crew was confronted by a local Mafia boss who insisted they vacate immediately, but when he was told the story of the film, he offered his protection and the scene was shot successfully in the time allotted.
The plight of Falun Gong is also the story of Uyghurs, Christians, Tibetans, Muslims, and ethnic minorities in China. The CCP is the world’s foremost terror organization, and while these atrocities continue to the present day, this story has not found traction in the Western media or in the awareness of Western powers.
I had the good fortune to interview Director Lee recently. He told me that when he learned of the forced organ donation practices being done at the hospital only miles from his home in China, he determined to bring the story to the world. The result of that decision was “Human Harvest,” a documentary film which earned him a coveted Peabody award.
I posed a question to Lee: “Considering the deaths of so many Chinese citizens at the hands of CCP, where is the international outrage? The Holocaust killed 6 million souls; since 1949 the CCP has starved or murdered over 45 million. What is it going to take for the Western world to act against CCP genocide?”
His answer was blunt; it was insightful, and it was courageous. “If Falun Gong practitioners can stand up in China,” he said, “surely we can stand up in the safety of Canada and the United States.”
“Unsilenced” can be seen in San Diego at the Reading Cinemas Town Square. Don’t wait. Go now.
Tickets are available online at readingcinemasus.com/townsquare/film/unsilenced or through the QR code below.
