The Economist had an excellent article a few months back contrasting this film which was a bit of a surprise hit to Asura, a hugely expensive failure. It talked about this as an indication of increasing social consciousness in China and that the authorities probably regretted approval this film for distribution as it helped fan the flames of dissatisfaction with rising medical costs. This film is inspired by real events but after a cursory check, it seems to me that so much has been fictionalized that it should be judged independently.

Chen Yong is a peddler of traditional remedies and aphrodisiacs in Shanghai whose business isn’t doing so well while also dealing with a divorced wife who wants custody of their son. One day he is approached by a man who wants him to source a generic drug from India. He and others like him suffer from CML, a type of leukemia which forces the patient to take the required medicine for life. Unfortunately the drug is owned by a Swiss company and extremely expensive in China while selling a cheap generic version made in India is illegal due to patent protection. Yong makes the trip to India and arranges for the drugs to be smuggled into China on ships. After quickly selling out the first batch he is awarded sole distributor rights by the Indian factory owner. After recruiting more help including a woman who runs an online network of CML patients and a Christian priest who speaks English, his business takes off and he earns the gratitude of many patients who are unable to afford the legal version of the drug. Soon enough he runs into numerous including a con man who actually does sell a fake, ineffective version of the drug, and more importantly the government who is under pressure from the drug company.

Given its subject matter and the fact that health costs are a growing concern in China, it isn’t surprising that this became a runaway hit. At the same time though director Wen Muye in his feature film debut is somewhat courageous in raising current issues, this is still a very conservative and conventional work. It goes out of its way to paint the manager of foreign drug company as the villain and shows the lead police investigator handling the case to be sympathetic. The film also distorts real events to portray Chen Yong in a more heroic light. In this film, he is not himself a CML patient but his real life counterpart is. The story beats are very predictable and all of the usual storytelling tropes are in play. For example, the rough-edged youth Yong recruits naturally sacrifices himself to save him from being apprehended by the police and the wife of a patient has to make a big show about appearing in person to beg Yong for help. This is a film that is much more interested in generating drama than being realistic as the changed circumstances in Yong’s life after a timeskip of only a year is simply unbelievable.

Flawed as it is, Dying to Survive is still enjoyable enough. Yong’s interactions with the Christian pastor Liu is worth a few chuckles, embodying a sort of easy irreverence that is rarely seen in Chinese cinema. It’s also fun to see a dedicated group breaking the law and doing their best to evade government attention because it earns money, yes, but because it is in aid of a good cause. It might not a big deal anywhere else but it’s deliciously subversive because it’s China. I also liked the culture-specific touches like how the appreciative customers keep giving Yong those colorful pennants embroidered with praises. It even becomes a plot point when police raiding his shop are suspicious of how many of them he has when all he sells are aphrodisiacs.

Obviously this isn’t high art but it’s not bad for a mainstream film and it actually kind of gratifying this is as successful as it has been. As for a first time director to boot! It would be fantastic if we could see more of this kind of work come out of China but it’s likelier than the government would become cannier about never letting them get to the market in the first place.