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Film Review: Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly

Reviewer: Helen Tope

Directed by: Cheryl Haines

Charting a collaboration between Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and American curator Cheryl Haines, documentary Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly explores the links between art and activism.

Ai Weiwei has earned a global reputation for being outspoken; his work shines a light on contemporary China. In 2008, a mammoth earthquake struck the Sichuan province and among the dead were 5,000 schoolchildren who perished as their government-constructed buildings collapsed. Weiwei created artworks memorialising the children and implicitly criticising Chinese authorities. In 2011, Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Airport, his passport confiscated (he wouldn’t get it back for another 4 years), and the artist was imprisoned for 81 days.

Haines’ film begins in 2013. She and Weiwei have discussed mounting an exhibition, something that celebrates human rights. In a light bulb moment, Haines suggests holding the exhibition on Alcatraz Island. Named @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, their teams assemble a production that is ambitious in scale and scope.

Filmed in a quiet, unobtrusive manner, Haines’ behind-the-scenes documentary develops in emotional resonance. She interviews Weiwei, who is clearly still traumatised by the events of 2011. As they work together in China, Weiwei remains under surveillance.

Weiwei and Haines work on the metaphor of literal and psychological confinement. We watch Weiwei’s assistants build Lego portraits of current prisoners of conscience. The material, chosen for its universality, brings a colourful dimension to the grim reality of Alcatraz. Haines films the reactions of people visiting the exhibition. The portraits are an immediate hit, but the exhibit ‘Yours Truly’ gives visitors a chance to write postcards to activists in prison. Some write a few sentences, others draw. The postcards feature national birds and flowers from the countries where the prisoners are being held. A quote from Weiwei, shown earlier in the film, “freedom will take flight”, offers a profound message about the impossibility of incarcerating ideas.

Haines’ documentary has an intensity which can feel overwhelming, but its best moments are when we learn not how art is made, but how it can sustain a belief, strengthen resolve. In a series of deeply moving interviews with activists and their families, the documentary exposes incidents of human rights abuse happening across the world. We also revisit Weiwei, who has now left China (and unlikely to return). His response to freedom is a burst of creativity, with a blockbuster exhibition at the Royal Academy, featuring ‘S.A.C.R.E.D’ (a six-part installation on the intrusive monitoring and oppression he endured while in prison). The documentary effectively illustrates how the attempts to curtail Weiwei’s self-expression have failed. He criticises European governments for their handling of the refugee crisis and meets with activist and whistle-blower, Chelsea Manning.

While Yours Truly maintains a head-above-water approach; finding optimism in the smallest of editorial choices, there is a warning signal to be heard. The aim of the documentary, successfully achieved, is in reminding us that freedom of speech is no longer a guarantee. The fragility of human rights, especially in today’s political climate, begins to feel much closer to home.

Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly was exclusively screened at Glastonbury Festival 2022 ahead of the documentary’s release in the UK.

The Reviews Hub Score:

Profoundly moving

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The Reviews Hub Film Team is under the editorship of Maryam Philpott.

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