Modern technology can increasingly track every aspect of our lives; and in few places is this put to greater effect than in China, whose state seeks to repress political dissent and encourage socially conformant behaviour. This documentary follows a group of (relatively affluent) Chinese who have found themselves on the wrong side of the government; while also looking more broadly at what how the powers of the state have grown. That rising affluence must lead to demoncracy has long been a totem in the West; it's alarming to see this assumption come under threat. It's an important story, but it doesn't completely work as a film: our dissidents can do little more than wait in fear, while the bigger picture (China's attempt to rate all citizens for their social compliance, or the growth of surveillence even in supposedly free countries) is hinted at but not systematically disected. I felt I could have learned more in 90 minutes.
