May Day 五月一天

When the earthquake struck on May 12th 2008, Zhu Xiaorong was in the county seat of her home region of northern Sichuan. Her husband Deng Eclipse of the Godsng, who was working outside the region, was out of danger; their child, however, never returned from school. This documentary records the life of Zhu Xiaorong's family during the year following the quake. 

From the relief tents to the temporary shelter of wooden shacks, these parents who have lost their only son seem to carry on as if nothing had happened. They deal with the people and situations around them with the unique approach to life that is characteristic of the Sichuanese. Zhu Xiaorong's younger brother, her only male sibling, also died in the earthquake, and this has dealt an enormous blow to Zhu's father. Luckily Zhu's husband married into his wife's family—a small comfort for a family that has lost two male members. 

As it often is in China, the Zhu family or the other ten million families living within the disaster zone don't have any time to feel miserable. As daily life goes back to normal, many survivors leave the disaster area to find work, but others like the Zhu family stay home. Now landless and of limited education and skills, they stay close to relatives and are reluctant to leave. The disaster has made them value what little they have more than anyone. 

Like all the mothers that have lost a child in the earthquake, Zhu Xiaorong is eager to have another one. A new life is the beginning of all future.

那天，五?一二，北川人鄧勝銀在外打工。當他聽到消息時，他在縣城的妻子朱嘵蓉幸運地躲過了災難，而剛去上學的孩子卻再也沒回來。本片記錄了北川人朱嘵蓉一家人在災後一年多時間裡的生存狀態。從臨時安置點到板房，失去孩子的這對夫婦似乎是這場災難之外的人。他們以四川人特有的生存哲學，應對著周圍的人以及發生在他們自己身上的各種事情。朱嘵蓉的弟弟也在地震中喪生，這對於只有一雙兒女的朱嘵蓉的父親來說是個巨大的打擊。好在朱嘵蓉的丈夫是入贅女婿，可以令這個一瞬間失去兩個男性的家庭得到一丁點兒的安慰。 

與中國所有的故事一樣，在重大的歷史事件節點上，朱家的生活與千萬個災區家庭一樣，幾乎來不及悲傷。日常生活逐漸安頓下來後，外出務工的人越來越多，但也有像朱家夫妻這樣留在當地的。家裡的地沒了，自身的文化技能的侷限性，以及對劫後餘生親情的依戀，使他們比任何人任何時候都更在意眼前能擁有的一切。與所有地震中失去孩子的母親一樣，朱嘵蓉很急切地想要一個孩子。新的生命，那是一切未來的開始。