The Brandeis English Department screened Ai Weiwei’s “Human Flow” Thursday night as part of its History of Ideas program. The documentary depicts the lives of the more than 65 million refugees who have been forced to leave their homes due to war, famine and climate change.

Professor Emilie Diouf (ENG), who teaches the English class “Refugee Stories, Refugee Lives,” introduced the film to her students and other attendants before the screening. After the brief introduction, Professor Diouf talked about the widespread epidemic of migration and how people have ignored those who need help. 

“Human Flow” is directed by Ai Weiwei, a Chinese contemporary artist and activist. His official website for his famous sunflower seeds artwork in Tate Modern in London describes his work concerning Chinese history and contemporary society as “politically frank and aesthetically poignant.” Weiwei’s formal practice “changes in form and the materials deployed according to the diversity of activities his art embraces.”

The 60 year-old artist has been openly critical of the human rights violations by the Chinese government. In an interview with the BBC in November 2010, he said, “This is a society that sacrifices people’s rights and happiness to make a profit.” He was detained, arrested and held captive for weeks by the Chinese government. Best known for his sunflower seeds exhibition and Beijing National Stadium, Weiwei currently resides and works in Beijing. 

Weiwei described “Human Flow” as “his personal journey to understand the global crises ... and a study for himself” in an interview with  online magazine the Upcoming. 

In an interview with the National, a news and current affairs program of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Weiwei explained what compelled him to make “Human Flow.” Weiwei said, “It is very hard not to act. … As an artist you need to find your own way, your own language to respond to this situation. I always have to find a language to build up this kind of communication between the people who are desperate, who have no chance to be heard, and people who are privileged … and turn their faces away.”

The official website of the documentary describes it as “a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice: from teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; from the haunting lure of lives left behind to the unknown potential of the future.” 

In the documentary,  Weiwei studies the astonishing scale of the refugee crises and its effect on the lives of refugees. The documentary was shot over the course of one year in 23 countries including Bangladesh, France, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya and Mexico. Giving a strong visual expression of the biggest human displacement since World War II, the documentary follows human stories in these 23 countries including Afghans escaping from war and migrating to Turkey and Syrians crossing to Greece from Turkey. 

Emphasizing the urgency of the matter, the documentary poses a crucial question to the audience:  Are we ever going to move away from self-interest, fear and isolation to a freer, opener, and more respected direction for humanity?