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Sight: A Mirror That Reflects
By Dr Jeannie Yi, Executive Producer of Family
Film Awards
Over the past weekend, DYF Entertainment
hosted two screenings of
Sight
One was held in Flushing, New York, where over
600,000 Asians
and the American Chinese reside,
The Second Screening was at the GM Building
on the
34th floor of DYF’s office in Manhattan.
DYF jointly hosted the Flushing Screening with a few
influential
community organizations,
the second screening was hosted by
Beijing University Alumni Association,
and sponsored by DYF Entertainment .
About 200 people attended the two events.
Sight
is an American movie with Chinese heritage.
The movie is based on
Dr Ming Wang’s journey from China to America,
and how this journey has turned an ordinary Chinese
to an extra-ordinary human being.
At the height of his career as a celebrate doctor he doesn’t
forget
to give back to the society
with what his talents, family and faith have brought him to
where he is today.
Sight
celebrates the Chinese culture and the America dream
in its best manifestation.
In two hours,
Sight
does well in clearly expressing its powerful message
of faith, love and hope through powerful imagery
and excellent story telling.
It tastefully blends lighthearted moments with an impactful
drama
Sight, leaves
the audience including myself, and the other guests,
feeling uplifted rather than deeply saddened.
It is an extremely touching film that gives positive and
important insight
into how one can find harmony in their relationship with their past
and illuminate the present with the light of faith and optimism.
Dr Wang himself said it best,
if we can
embrace our past we can have a better present.
What strikes me most is the seemingly simple chronological
story wrapped
in a highly emotionally charged story telling language and imageries
centered around love, perseverance, optimism and faith in the face
of adversity.
It is based on the autobiographical book written by
Doctor Ming Wang named From Darkness to Sight—
A Journey from Hardship to Healing. It depicts the trials
and
tribulations of his life through difficulties faced both in
his humble beginnings in China during the cultural
revolution
and as a world renowned laser eye surgeon in the United States.
The juxtaposition between the past and the present lives of
Doctor Wang
is at the center of the film.
The 5-year old Kajal, an orphan in Calcutta whose
eyes were intentionally blinded
by her stepmother who poured acid into her eyes while the girl was asleep
(a blind singing beggar would get more profit )
parallels with Dr Wang’s childhood traumatic
experience when his only friend,
a young teen girl classmate was violently snatched away
by the local hooligans.
In both cases Dr Ming Wang could do nothing.
Kajal’s eyes were too damaged to be salvaged. When the
stepmother found
that Kajal could not sing, she was then abandoned to die.
The young girl in Ming’s life simply vanished
(The movie reminds me of young Forest and Jenny ).
When Kajal was brought into Ming’s life,
the teenage girl’s image also appears in his dreams to hunt
him.
Where is peace and healing?
The evil acts of humans are always matched by the greater
benevolence of the Creator,
a message strongly vibrates throughout the movie,
otherwise how could it be explained
that another blind teenager orphan Maria, a fifteen year old girl
from
Moldova in Eastern Europe,
was brought to Ming for surgery.
The first surgery failed. The second succeeded .
What has happened in between two surgeries?
It’s the same technology, the same doctor and the same
hospital.
The only difference in between is Dr Ming Wang’s
visit to the church
where Kajal was.
She was then playing with the other blind kids happily when
the
heavy minded doctor walked in. Kajal placed a wooden beaded cross
in Ming’s hand when he leaves.
If a 5-year old could accept the fatality and move on, why can’t
Ming give the surgery of Maria’s eye another chance,
this time with faith in God?
Miracle happen!
When Maria sees herself first time in 15 years she
slowly murmurs:
I’m so pretty.
The crowds broke into tears. So did I.
Another scene in the movie that speaks directly to me
is Ming’s rejection by Jon’s Hopkins Admission
Dean
simply because of his color- the guy didn’t even bother to
look at Ming’s application.
I had a similar experience.
The first semester when I sat in the English class for a
course of Medieval Allegory 101,
my young English professor simply wouldn’t believe I came up
with the
“echo analysis”
saying the Red Cross in the Fairy Queen got lost in the Dark Forest
and walked in circles in the woods is because the dark woods
symbolizes
the clouded dark mind that can no longer tell truth
(Una - the princess in the besieged fortress waiting to be
rescued )
from falsehood ( Deussa who seduced the Red Cross and made
him lose the way.)
When you only listen to yourself, it’s like you are listening to the echos
of your own voice. Falsehood is an echo,
l wrote. My thesis got a B! The English professor simply
wouldn’t believe
a Chinese fresh from China could come up with such a “brilliant theory”.
My 5-year university fellowship requires me to get
straight A！
I went to my own professor
Prof. Mathewson (bless his soul)
who taught literary theory in comparative literature department and
explained to him
how I got the image. I told him when I was 17 years old I graduate from
high school
but there was no job nor university entrance exam to take,
just like what Dr Ming
describes in the movie.
It’s a very bad period in Chinese contemporary history and
we could do nothing
to change our fate. One of my aunts who worked in a remote mountainous
county
next to Tibet asked me to be a replacement teach for two
months because
their Chinese teacher was having a baby.
I went. These two months created the most unforgettable
experience in my life!
Every day at 3pm, a train would pass by the mountain pass
we would all then swaRm onto the gate of the school
on the mountaintop to wave and call out to the train:
Train bring us out the giant mountains
火车
带
我们
出大山
Our voice was so young and loud it pierced through the fog
in the mountains
and valleys and we would jump and run tumbling down to the bottom
of the mountain
where the train would stop, our voices echoed after us, rumbling like a
thunder storm chasing us.
The train was gone, the Hope was gone.
Prof Mathewson held my cold hands and my tears washed
down my face.
My English professor, after learning the story, apologized
and changed my grade to A.
That day I learned two things:
1. fairness to all. 2. Forgiveness.
America is a very forgiving country.
Once you know you are wrong, you apologize.
People will give you and give you a second chance.
Dr
Ming
got enrolled into university in 1977 during
the first university entrance examination after a ten-year
rupture
in the enrollment system,
I was enrolled in the following year 1978. 1977 and 1977
were actually only 6 months apart.
Dr Wang came to America in 1982 to study his Master
and PhD;
I came to America in 1985 to study for my PhD
after I got my Master in China.
It is this kinship and parallel paths with Dr Ming
I identify and the movies.
The movie is like a mirror and my journey in china and to
America
is getting played out.
The imageries and messages in the movie
Sight
resonate with lots of audiences.
I am sure that its powerful imagery and universal message
will elicit a
deep emotional response from viewers of all races, colors, ages and
creeds.
The ghost of Dr Ming’s past that constantly haunts
his thoughts and
affects his performance in the present left him after Kajal case.
The movie ends with Dr Ming Wang dancing with
Kajal leading the way
… blind but happily accepting what life has brought her.
There is always a silver lining no matter how faint it is.
It keeps us living on with hope and love.
Sight
keeps you feeling an overriding light of optimism throughout
the
hardships shown on the screen.
Even though
Sight
deals with heavy subject matter, it does not weigh you down.
The movie always keeps a balance between the dark traumatic
events
and the lighthearted optimism of the story.
For instance the pretty Chinese girl from Tsingtao who
works in the bar
Dr. Ming and his fellow doctors frequent and the subsequent dating
scenes
between the two
provide a balance to the haunted nights.
The uneasiness I have is that there are times where the
screenwriter
does tend to lose touch with reality though and in certain
places
the dialogue feels contrived and forced.
( The movie needs a voice over. The few characters in the
lives of Ming
here in America and over there in China
just don’t sound authentically Chinese.)
It gives the impression that the character is a caricature
of an actual person
and they are just being used as a tool or prop to express
ideals unnaturally.
This overly deliberate approach is not needed, as the story
itself naturally
and effectively evokes the desired emotions.
And I would cut fifteen minutes to shorten and speed up the
movie.
If I had a choice and Liberty
I would leave out the family members of Dr. Ming Wang back
in China.
Their story belongs to another movie.
This movie is about Dr Ming.
It’s his journey, a journey of sight and healing.
To bring them here, it feels like overkill.
Dr. Jeannie Yi
CEO, DYF Entertainment
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