Ascension (2021)

This film is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary in a field that has a lot of great movies--which is typical, of course. It is set in modern China, and is an unsettling look at their facotry-based economy. it was originally envisioned as three short documentaries, one for production, one for consumption, and the last one for the waste, but has been melded into one movie with all three components, without much in the way of narration, so the viewer is left to figure it out by watching. There is a Koyaanisquatsi-esque experience that in the end is both overwhelming and mesmerizing. The take home message for me is that China is a nation of strivers, with hearts set on achieving what might be called the new Chinese Dream: wealth and success, in the world’s second largest economy. The rest of us need to take notice.