In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime ordered the eradication of the meditation practice known as Falun Gong. What is so insidious about the subsequent roundup, torture, and murder of thousands of the movement’s practitioners is that Falun Gong is an entirely peaceful practice with no political agendas.
Director Kay Rubacek’s recent documentary “Finding Courage” details the history of Falun Gong, as well as the story of one family’s involvement in this traditional, spiritual movement.
The documentary begins by interviewing various people who used to be a part of the CCP machine—including a former prison labor camp director, secret police officer, and judge. As they explain, when the CCP came to power in 1949, it quickly established itself as a highly totalitarian, single-party dictatorship with a “one perspective, one belief” principle that everyone was (and still is) expected to follow.
Introduced next is Yifei Wang, a former journalist who also used to work for the CCP (many CCP party members used to practice Falun Gong before it was outlawed), as she celebrated New Years with her loved ones in San Francisco, California. She explains that most of her friends and family who live in the United States can’t return to China because of their Falun Gong affiliation. However, her husband Gordon can since he is a high-profile journalist for the state with many high-ranking friends, and knows how to “work the system.”
Unfortunately, although he was able to keep Yifei out of the clutches of the CCP during their time in China, he couldn’t help her sister Kefei. Yifei recounts the fateful day that Kefei bravely traveled to Beijing to try to appeal to the authorities there to stop the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners.
Yifei soon joined her sister in Beijing and both of them proceeded to unfurl banners that read “Falun Gong is Good,” which was typical of many protesters there. They were quickly surrounded by police, beaten to the ground, and taken away to be incarcerated in one of the many jails holding other protestors.
At the end of it all, while Yifei managed to get out of jail, her sister was taken away to a labor camp where she was tortured to death. Meanwhile, Yifei’s brother Leo was also taken away to prison. His “horrible” crime? Printing peace-based fliers for Falun Gong.
As a notorious Gestapo-style national security agency called the “610 Office” was set up to destroy Falun Gong, all of the state-run media outlets repeated the same message over and over again—that Falun Gong practitioners either exhibited aggressive behavior toward others, or were determined to hurt themselves.
Although Yifei wanted to stay in China with her father in order to keep protesting, he wanted her to travel to the United States and live there. She eventually agreed, knowing that it would only be a matter of time before she was captured by the police. They both figured she’d be able to better tell her story from relative safety and fight for justice against the CCP.
Midway through the film, there is a dramatic turn of events as Gordon begins covertly filming his clandestine forays into areas in China that might lead to finding Kefei’s remains. Although he is known to authorities as a non-practitioner of Falun Gong, he is also using his position as a journalist to find evidence of the CCP’s wrongdoing. Will he be able to keep his investigations a secret?
The film can be tough to watch in places, especially when learning what practitioners of Falun Gong were subjected to, but it’s also filled with hope. Although Yifei’s family experienced incredible trauma at the hands of the CCP, they still seek to expose the regime, while simultaneously healing their accumulated, collective scars. Their journey is an inspiring one that is ultimately uplifting.
In the end, “Finding Courage” is not only an amazing real-life tale about the triumph of the human spirit in the face of enormous cruelty and evil, but it also serves as an exposé on the inherent problems of communism.
Director: Kay Rubacek Running Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes MPAA Rating: Not Rated Release Date: Sep. 18, 2020 Rated: 5 stars out of 5
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