Directed by Stephen Maing, High Tech, Low Life follows two anti-censorship bloggers, the young and tech-savvy Zhou Shuguang AKA Zola and the older biking nomad with a camcorder, Zhang Shihe AKA Tiger Temple. As China continues to strengthen its Great Firewall to control the type of information that its citizens receive, these bloggers take it upon themselves to report the news that’s been ignored or to help draw attention to issues facing communities that the government has decided to ignore. Breaking the law, these “citizen reporters” fight for free speech and the right to be informed, hoping that they will make a difference now and in the future.
High Tech, Low Life succeeds in its ability to capture these bloggers blatantly acting our against the Chinese government and, for at least Tiger Temple, seeing what kind of impact these actions have for the people they are meant to help. It fails in its inability to shed a fair amount of light on the governmental side making the film extremely biased which, to an extent, is understandable.
The coolest part of the film actually has nothing to do with capturing or reporting injustice and snooping around, it has to do with Tiger Temple’s travel methods. From Beijing he bikes hundreds of kilometers just to go visit areas where there may be individuals that need a voice. Just seeing him slowly bike with his supplies is very cool and shows the kind of determination he has to help powerless people out.
There are a few issues I wish the film delved into a bit more, particularly how Zola managed to get so many different expensive gadgets despite his income level and how he managed to afford to travel to some very far places (though I know some people donated funds so that he could report an incident).
This is a topic that’s always fascinated me as I’ve been to China and have talked with both the young and old and it’s interesting to see the ideological differences as the youth is exposed to western ideals that counter the beliefs of their parents. So if you’re an activist, monitor social injustice closely or are fascinated by China in general, like myself, then High Tech, Low Life is worth a watch. If not, then don’t bother wasting your time as it will likely bore the crap out of you.
Rating: An interesting glimpse at the world of information rebels but lacks a well rounded view of the entire situation (5/10)
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