lt might be fun to watch fictional disasters on the big screen, but watching the fictionalized effects of a real life disaster is just heartbreaking. In his new film, Aftershock, Feng Xiaogang follows a family that survives China’s most disastrous earthquake, the massive 7.8 temblor that flattened the entire city of Tangshan in the early hours of July 28, 1976. Adapted from Zhang Ling’s 2006 novel of the same title, Aftershock shows the raw human emotions of choices made in the heat of an emergency whose effects resonate throughout a lifetime.

Fraternal twins Fang Deng and Fang Dan are 7 years old when the quake hits. Trapped under the same broken slab of cement, their mother realizes she can only save one child. Knowing she will feel guilty for the rest of her life either way she chooses, she plucks her son from the rubble, leaving her daughter to what she believes is certain death. Thirty-two years later, Fang Dan is volunteering to help the survivors of the Sichuan earthquake when he comes across his long-lost sister, who had miraculously survived. Rather than make this into a flashy disaster flick, Feng focuses on the human emotions, reactions and struggles inherent in surviving when so many others have died. Make sure to bring a box of tissues, as no one leaves the screening dry-eyed.

DETAILS:

What: Aftershock

Where: UME in Chaoyang, Wanda International in the CBD, Megabox in Sanlitun

When: Through August 22