Watch The Dying Rooms

The Dying Rooms is a harrowing and heartbreaking documentary that delves into the dark underbelly of China's one-child policy, specifically the widespread abandonment and neglect of unwanted infants, particularly girls, many of whom are born with disabilities. The film, directed by Kate Blewett and Brian Woods and released in 1995, is shot predominantly in secret due to the lack of cooperation from Chinese authorities. It depicts Chinese orphanages with conditions that are nothing short of appalling, where children are left to die from neglect, malnutrition and disease.

Blewett and Woods, both investigative journalists, spent years researching and gathering footage for The Dying Rooms, and the result is a searing indictment of China's one-child policy which was in effect from 1979 to 2015.

The film begins with an introduction to the policy, which was implemented to curb China's population growth. Families were only allowed to have one child, and those who violated the rule were subject to harsh fines and penalties.

The filmmakers then take the viewer inside several state-run orphanages in China, where they capture disturbing footage of children being left to die. The circumstances in these institutions are horrific, with babies left to lie in their own filth, sometimes tied to their cribs for hours on end. In some cases, children are even tied to chairs with rope or chains, their limbs twisted and contorted from being left in the same position day after day.

Perhaps the most devastating scenes in the film are of the dying rooms themselves - small, sterile rooms where infants are taken to die from neglect. The filmmakers captured footage of one such room where babies lay listless on metal cots, their eyes sunken and their skin stretched taut over their skeletal frames.

The documentary also delves into the darker side of the adoption industry in China, where babies are sold to Western families for thousands of dollars. The filmmakers interview several Chinese women who were forced to give up their babies due to the one-child policy and who have since suffered profound emotional trauma.

The Dying Rooms is a difficult film to watch, but it's also an important one. It shines a stark light on the inhumanity of China's one-child policy and the devastating impact it has had on millions of families. The filmmakers' dedication to shedding light on this issue, even in the face of censorship and suppression, is commendable.

One criticism of the film is that it doesn't provide a lot of context or analysis of the policy itself. While it's clear that the one-child policy has led to a great deal of suffering, the film doesn't explain why the policy was implemented in the first place, nor does it explore the nuances of the debate around population control.

However, the film's power lies in its images, which speak for themselves. The Dying Rooms is an important historical document, and a reminder of the devastating consequences of government-mandated population control.

In conclusion, The Dying Rooms is a powerful and uncompromising documentary that exposes the brutal realities of China's one-child policy. It's a difficult film to watch, but an important one that sheds light on an issue that has been largely overlooked.