I’m So Sorry (2021)

Directed by: Zhao Liang | 96 minutes | documentary

It is typical of the world in which we now live that the 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival (2021) showed a special selection of films that recognize the urgency of the climate problem. ‘I’m So Sorry’ was one of the movies that played in this section. The poetic documentary by the Chinese director Zhao Liang is about the terrible effects of nuclear disasters that have already happened, but also shows us places where the threat is still current: Chernobyl, Fukushima and Kazakhstan, but also closer: Germany and Finland.

Due to economic development, fossil fuels are running out, which is why nuclear energy seems a nice, clean solution. It seems, because there is no solution for the radioactive waste that remains during production; it is life-threatening and by comparison: you sometimes see surprised or indignant reactions on social media to a photo of a bag of candy or crisps that was dumped in nature decades ago: radioactive waste continues to emit radiation for tens of thousands of years. As long as there isn’t a solution for that, it simply isn’t an alternative. In addition, the consequences of an accident at a nuclear power plant are disastrous, for people and nature. ‘I’m So Sorry’ is a reflection and argument in one. With this documentary, we and future generations literally get an apology, sorry for the greed, that of our grandparents, parents, ourselves and our children. At the same time, it holds up a mirror to the self-confident viewer: do you really need that t-shirt that you ordered on the internet? And how well-considered is your choice of ingredients for your evening meal?

Massive consumption will not happen, but ‘I’m So Sorry’ shows the effect of this in heartbreaking images. Warning: that can get you into quite a dip. The lonely elderly, left alone or returned to an infected area: what is left for them but sadness, worrying, silence and ultimately death? The visit to a Ukrainian orphanage, where children with severe physical and mental disabilities live, will leave no one indifferent. And when you see the images of a mother lovingly caring for her severely handicapped daughter, you only think desperately ‘Why?’

However, people are not always the subject of ‘I’m So Sorry’, because there are also countless silent shots of nature and abandoned buildings. You hardly believe that the filmmaker or cameraman is there on the spot, it feels so uncanny. What heightens that threatening feeling is the continuous ticking of the Geiger counter, a radiation detector. In addition, Zhao Liang uses a no-player, a masked person who, in the midst of the desolate landscapes, as if he were the savior of Scrooge – a ghost from the past, present and future – poetically warns and condemns the viewer at the same time. ‘I’m So Sorry’ is not an easy or enlightening documentary, because the structure is sometimes confused and you don’t always get background information. But if you let the images speak for themselves, this is an impressive film, albeit with a nasty, gloomy message, which on the other hand will not surprise you either.