A literary reflection by the audacious director Zhao Liang on the industrial monster devouring the Inner Mongolian prairies. An ICA exclusive.
https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/behemoth-bei-xi-mo-shou
In the Old Testament, the mountains are the domain of a monster named Behemoth; in modern times the vast mining industry has taken this monster’s place. With a violent roar, the mountain spews iron ore and coal with an infernal billowing smoke that leaves the resident workers struggling against fatigue and suffocation.
The silence of the dreamlike Chinese landscapes is broken only by the thundering cacophony of explosions set to create a new entrance to the mine. Sheep farmers and their herds have been driven from bright green pastures to make way for the ever-expanding mining industry; sick miners with ruined lungs lay dying in the local hospitals. A mountain paradise is mutated into an industrial zone surrounded by ghost towns of brand-new, deserted apartment blocks.
