EIFF 2013: Three Sisters (San Zimei)

Chinese documentary filmmaker Wang Bing validates his 2012 Edinburgh film festival masterclass with an outright masterpiece in 2013. Three Sisters orbits the world of a Chinese family in rural Yunnan, delivering a full 360 degree interpretation of their existence. And life is little more than that for the three girls of the title, aged 10, 6 and 4. The eldest, Yingying, bears the brunt of responsibility. Weathered by the elements and seasoned by hardship, she is unfairly stretched beyond her years. It is heartbreaking to see her lonely, isolated and mired in domestic serfdom. Her age forces an emerging comprehension and sad acceptance of a mapped future, which her younger sisters are mercifully spared, for now. Although largely neglected these girls are the opposite of feral: they are, in fact, capable and defiant; a shattering testament to a human endurance we can hardly comprehend.

Wang is a master of natural technique, contradicting the famous statement that in photography there is nothing as mysterious as a fact clearly described. He has embedded himself well here, gaining trust from his subjects. His digital truths of modern China are therefore pure and unblemished, captured simply and cleanly for us to absorb. He rejects the norms of much modern documentary – he doesn't use a tripod or cut to talking heads. Images remain largely unsculpted by editing, which makes for a draining, oppressive 154 minutes lean on narrative and dialogue. This is a purist form, an unwillingness to cut and manipulate life.  

Claiming the Orizzonti Best Feature award at Venice in 2012 is testament to the power and importance of this stark, brutal document on exactly how life presents itself in a small village, in Yunnan, to three young girls in 2010. The flipside of China's economic boom.