Review by Chris Walts

24 City is the story of Factory 420, an aeronautical plant utilized during the Korean War that is being turned into a luxury housing complex, and the people connected to it. In its heyday Factory 420 was a top-secret factory that manufactured planes for the war effort while providing a good living for everyone involved. After the war, its usefulness faded, taking with it the good lives of the many people connected to it.

While this documentary feels like it is trying to point out that progress comes at a cost, its point is never fully realized. The film in structured in such a way that you never really connect with the people telling it. The opposite message actual comes through clearer as you realize that the only reason people had a good life was because of war. Regardless of the actual intent of director Jia Zhangke, the entire film feels like pure information that would be better suited for a 20-minute news special than a documentary film. Apparently Zhangke even created some of the interviews as a sort of meta-comment but this to also falls far short as there is no real evidence of this in the film. It’s not that the film is horrible or hard to watch; its message has simply been done better many times before.

24 City
Jia Zhangke | China | 2008 | 107min