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HBO: In many of your films, you follow people
whose lives are impacted, often tragically, by
events beyond their control. China's Unnatural
Disaster is that kind of film. How did you
come to tell it?
Jon Alpert: The genesis of this project came from the
fertile mind of (HBO's) Sheila Nevins. I think
that Sheila was completely overcome by the
reports that were coming out of China about
the suffering of the people, and specifically
the suffering of parents whose children were
buried in collapsed schools. She called us
and said, Would you guys like to go to China
and see if there's a film there? And the next
thing you know we were on a plane, and then
standing in the middle of Schezuan province.
HBO: What were your first impressions?
Matthew O'Neill: Awestruck horror. There were parts of
Schezuan province that were absolutely
totaled. And we've reported for HBO from war
zones and seen bombed areas. But the total
destruction of some cities was something I
had never seen before. At first we thought we
had missed a lot of the action that had
happened in the immediate aftermath of the
earthquake. So we shifted our focus to go to
the sites where schools had collapsed...
Jon Alpert: And as we were driving, sort of into the middle
of nowhere, all of a sudden this long line of
people started coming towards us on the
other side of the road. They were each
holding something. We couldn't see what it
was, so we stopped the car and got out. Each
person was holding an 8 x 10 photograph of
their child that had died when the school
collapsed. And because China is a one-child-
only country, these were the only children of
these families. In this particular case, the
rescue teams did not come to this school. The
kids had cell phones and were lying
underneath the rubble, calling their parents,
begging to be saved, and then subsequently
died. The parents had to tear through the
stones with their bare hands to get to the
dead bodies of their kids. And after they got
over the initial grief and had buried their
children, they returned to the school and set
up an impromptu memorial with the
photographs of their children under a tent.
And sat there waiting for promised answers.
But the parents were ignored. Eventually
they got mad and started marching. And
that's when we ran into them.
This was ten days after the initial shock and
grief and anger. These parents were camped
out begging the government to answer their
questions as to why their school collapsed
while buildings around it stood. And so they
waited and waited and waited. And their
anger grew and their frustration grew and
eventually they said, We have to take this to
the central government. And they set off on
their march.
HBO: What kind of response did they get?
Matthew O'Neill: As they marched towards the provincial seat
to demand justice, they flipped the script on
the local officials and were effective in
gathering media attention, not only from us
but from a lot of domestic Chinese media.
People were listening to their stories, and
other parents who had suffered similar
tragedies joined the march. But the
government moved in and slowly and very
effectively smothered their clamoring for
justice. Later in the film you see the officials
promise an investigation, but a year later
there's been nothing - no official claim of
responsibility, no official investigation,
nothing published to answer these parents'
questions.
And in order to collect the money that was
eventually given to them as part of a
settlement for people in the earthquake zone
who lost their children, they had to sign a
document that made them promise that they
wouldn't march, and that they would support
the local government and promise to keep
quiet.
HBO: How do you think this event compares to
press coverage and the recovery efforts in the
U.S. during Hurricane Katrina?
Matthew O'Neill: Undoubtedly there were problems with our
own rescue efforts. But there are more
effective outlets for dissent in this country, for
voices to reach out to the public. The
difference is the images we recorded are
reaching an audience in the United States,
and we hope eventually in China as well. The
Chinese press was barred from releasing their
images, from writing about the protests, from
allowing the rest of the country to understand
the parents' anger and their quest for justice.
Jon Alpert: If you look at the scope of the Chinese rescue
effort I think it compares favorably, and
actually to some degree, shames what the
United States did in responding to Katrina.
But because of the Olympics and the promise
that the Chinese government had made to
have free, unfettered press, the first few days
of the earthquake had the semblance of free
press when in fact the Chinese government
were saying, We don't want you coming to
Schezuan. But everybody came anyway.
What happened to these parents and their
children became apparent to anybody who
had open eyes and was going around the
disaster zone. And as reports began to come
out, the Chinese government began trying to
reel in the press.
They even threatened us that we better stop
doing this reporting. But we were prepared
for that and made sure that our material
could not be captured by the authorities, and
that it would indeed be available for people to
see.
HBO: What do you hope this film can do in terms of
shining a spotlight on the aftermath of this
tragedy?
Matthew O'Neill: I think as filmmakers we owe it to the parents
to get this film out there in the United States
and around the world. As we went to their
homes and visited the gravesites of their
children, the parents were opening up to us
because they saw this film as a possible ally
in their quest for justice. They want the
media to pay attention to this story because
they know without attention the local
government can smother and destroy their
quest for justice. It's only with constant
pressure that they have any chance of getting
answers to their questions. So I hope that
our film can be part of the pressure that's
building in China to have an investigation,
and get answers for these parents.
Jon Alpert: I think that it's appropriate that this film is
not only being broadcast on the anniversary
of the earthquake, but it's also Mother's Day.
And the love these families have for their
children and their hopes for them are things
that any audience can identify with: when
you've lost everything and there's nothing else
to lose. To see the courage that these parents
have to fight for answers was very inspiring.
And the fact that they wanted us to be part of
this search for answers and justice really sort
of fulfilled some of the basic reasons why we
make these films and why HBO broadcasts
them. It was devastating, but it was also
heartwarming to be included in this, and to
help these parents.
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