Thursday night saw a robust beginning to this year's film fest as the slow rain and misting mizzle did little to deter opening night movie-goers.

I snuck into the sold-out "Bing'ai" at the Bartell Theatre at about 7:45 p.m. -- just before the mid-point of the film. A volunteer told me that there may have been one seat open in the front row, but the film was so engaging that I didn't mind standing.

The documentary follows the seven-year struggle of Chinese woman farmer Zhang Bingai and her husband who are being forced off of their land because of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

Officially classified as a migrant famer, even though she has been on the same land for over 20 years, Bing'ai is a hard worker. In fact she once worked so hard she gave herself a miscarriage. Her relationship with the government and city people is one of suspicion and resentment. In one scene she tells of the dreams she has of the fetuses she aborted while following China's one-child policy. They appear to her as snakes coiled around her night-table and bed. "Don't blame me," she tells them, "it's the government's decision."

Bing'ai is strong-willed, smart, resourceful and more than a little sarcastic, but ultimately respectful in her resistance of the local government's forced relocation program, but in the end the odds and the river are stacked against her. Throughout the film she relates her love for her land and they way it provides for her along with reasons for her unwillingness to leave. "The soul doesn't move as fast as the body," she says. 

The story unfolds in a fascinating study of Chinese culture and government. Meetings between officials and farmers include a lot of yelling about issues both on and off the subject at hand, but they all seem to end very courteously with a decision being made. Unfortunately, much like migrant workers in any country, it's rarely a decision that benefits the farmers ( "Don't linger on the details," they are told "the government won't abandon you.")

 When Bing'ai procures a government policy booklet on Migrant relocation, she is afraid to show it to village officials when they contradict its rules for fear they will take it from her. Ironically, it's electricity and water -- the two things the Three Gorges Dam is going to help provide for China's economic growth -- that Bing'ai and her husband are unable to procure from the government.