l_rawjalaurence WE WENT TO WONDERLAND concentrates on the visit of an elderly Chinese couple (Xiulin Guo, Heyin Li) to Britain, France and Italy. They have never been abroad before, and the experiences prove revelatory for both of them. He is an intellectual, imprisoned for ten years during the Cultural Revolution, who has now lost his voice due to cancer, and can only communicate through writing notes. She spends much of her time looking after him, while recording her impressions of various sights direct to camera. They stay in a rundown apartment in Hackney, East London, and visit various sites both familiar and unfamiliar, including the Houses of Parliament, Marks & Spencer, the site of the forthcoming London Olympics, and the Colosseum in Rome. The narrative is interspersed with photographs of their daily life in Beijing, plus title-cards recording his observations on what he sees around him. What renders WE WENT TO WONDERLAND such a charming film is the way in which writer-producer-director Xiaolu Guo views her characters; she neither sentimentalizes nor laughs at them, but gives them the freedom to disclose their thoughts direct to camera. While the woman takes a pleasure in enjoying new experiences - such as buying a pair of new shoes - she believes that home is better. As the trip unfolds, so her yearning to return increases. The man makes some penetrating observations on the shortcomings of life in the West - for example, the tendency of young people to drink in the street - but also understands how certain aspects of life are superior to those in China. The water is better, for example. His lack of voice proves a positive advantage; not only can he record his impressions in written form, but he is also an accomplished painter, responding emotionally to the visual stimuli around him. Shot in black-and-white, Guo's film has a strong sense of place: the prison-like ambiance of the Hackney apartment-block, where ambulances come to take away the victims of crime; the desolate landscape of East London, prior to the building of the Olympic stadium; and the wide expanses of Vatican City, where the man speculates on what daily life is like for the Pope. For the elderly couple, visiting Europe is definitely like going to a wonderland, a fantasy-world totally unlike anything they've experienced before, or will experience in the future. But, as with many wanderers, the sensations of going away only increase one's desire for home - as the ending demonstrates. WE WENT TO WONDERLAND is a little gem, consistently offering pleasant surprises, both verbal as well as visual.

rasecz A documentary about a Chinese man who lost his voice when he developed throat cancer and had it surgically removed. Thirteen years after the operation that saved his life, he realizes a life dream: visit Europe. His wife and he come first to London. They stay at an apartment that I suppose belongs to their daughter(?). A good deal of the documentary is taken by their daily life there. Eventually they travel through France and Italy by train ending at Rome's Termini station. From Rome, it seems, they fly back to China.I'm curious why the director chose to shoot in black and white. Maybe it was to make the man's scarred thin neck less prominent. In any case the cloth filter covering the neck stoma through which the man breathes is a constant reminder of what he went through.The wife does all the talking while the man communicates through written notes. They seem to enjoy their travels but finally long to be back home. For them the grass is greener on their side of the fence.Peppered throughout are black screens with flashing text with smarty comments. Often they are amusing.We don't learn much about these people. Judged as an intellectual, he was in a labour camp during the Cultural Revolution. He drew political posters during the Maoist period. Today his hobby seems to be painting and we see one he is working on. The issue of the cancer is brought up a couple of times. Otherwise the rest is commentary about their travel experience and life in the West.Near the end the man lists four ways in which China is better than the West. One is about the speed of trash collection. I forget the other three.Don't let the issue of cancer discourage you from seeing this film. This is a resilient survivor that still has the gusto of life and is cheery. It's a sweet and amusing look at what first-time tourists think about a foreign culture. Yet, despite this being their first trip overseas, they certainly have developed the art of travelling light as the last scene in the film makes clear.