Ai Weiwei is China’s most famous international artist and one of its most outspoken critics. The son of a revolutionary poet who was sentenced to thirteen years of hard labor when Ai Wei-Wei was a child, the artist has every reason to fear the Chinese government. But he refuses to be cowed. On the contrary, he carries the fight to Chinese officials at every opportunity, in a style vaguely reminiscent of American film-maker Michael Moore.
After the Sichuan Earthquake of May 2008, in which more than 5,000 schoolchildren perished in shoddily constructed schools, Ai Weiwei set about to hold his government responsible by memorializing the death of each child. With the help of more than 50 volunteers, Ai was able to collect the names of the deceased students and post them to his blog on the one-year anniversary of the disaster. Two and one-half weeks later, authorities shut down his blog. But Ai had captured the hearts of his countrymen, who followed him when he migrated to Twitter.
Ai produced another tribute to the victims of the earthquake—and other victims of government and corporate wrongdoing—in an exhibit at the Haus der Kunst, in Munich, Germany. Titled So Sorry, the exhibit contrasted the ease with which powerful governments and corporations apologize for their wrongdoings without accepting responsibility, making reparations, or changing their behavior. The exhibit included an installation Ai called Remembering. Covering the exterior façade of the museum with 9,000 children’s backpacks, Ai spelled out the sentence, “She lived happily for seven years in this world,” in Chinese characters—a quote from a mother whose child died in the Sichuan earthquake.
Never Sorry was released to critical acclaim and is Alison Klayman’s debut feature documentary, which she directed, produced, filmed and co-edited. The film is a powerful tribute to a man whose courage in facing a formidable foe—his own government—is very nearly breathtaking. It is also clearly motivated by love—as there is no upside to his constant provocation of the government other than the hope that international pressure will force it to change.
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