What a great drama about the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic in Wuhan, China

Last night I enjoyed watching the free Chinese TV drama “With You” with English subtitles, Episodes 15-16. The cinematographer brilliantly captured Wuhan, China last year paralyzed under the Covid-19 plague. Deng Lun (“Ashes of Love”) plays a young person who is accidently trapped in Wuhan when returning home to visit his mother. After desperate failed attempts to escape, he confronts his crippling terror and eventually finds shelter, relationship and meaning in his humble role as a custodian in the intensive care ward of a hospital. There are the usual hospital drama situations but for many of us they will be totally familiar after the Covid-19 experience. The themes portrayed are worthy of any of the great Kafkaesque existential films of the 1950s and 1960s, with the added horror that now they are totally real. The images of gray, giant urban landscapes devoid of people, cars or any sign of life was especially haunting and captured beautifully by the cinematographer. The evolution of Deng Lun’s character from a carefree adolescent to a responsible adult with mature humanitarian values is a delight to watch. That he can successfully emote and communicate intense feelings with his body language through the thick padding of his hospital outfit, often visible just through his eyes, is a tribute to his skills as an actor. The contrast was surprising between the fanatical mask wearing Chinese people and the lack of seriousness of many Westerners in the USA that I have met; a people/government who take care of their citizens and a people/government living in denial, distraction, and delusion. I felt it was time well spent. I particularly like dramas such as this because of their focus on character development and maturation over cheap stunts, cartoon psycho-villains and silly action sequences.

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