Plot Analysis and Summary of the Chinese Film, "Dying to Survive"

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Movie Review – Dying to Survive
Introduction
Dying to Survive is a Chinese film of 2018 that focuses on the real-life story of a Chinese leukemia patient Lu Yong (Tartaglione 1). The 2018 movie reports about activities of Yong who is reported to have secretly imported cheap anticancer medicine from India without the approval of the Chinese government. The movie mirrors the plight of Chinese cancer patients who suffer the consequences of expensive cancer treatment from what the government offers. From the cheaply imported but effective drugs, the movie brings it to the limelight that drugs from India that were highly effective but almost ten times cheaper than Chinese drugs offered significant relief to the cancer patients. Besides, the film highlights that smuggled drugs led to the highest number of cancer survivors in the recent past of Chinese history.
Plot Summary of the Film
Cheng Yong is an aphrodisiac peddler who finds himself in financial crisis due to long periods on no profits in his shop. In the film, his situation grows from bad to worse as he needs a large sum of money to finance his father's urgent brain surgery urgently. Fortunate for him, he is approached by a stranger wearing thick layered surgical mask one day. The stranger advanced Cheng to engage in a business of smuggling cheap drugs from India in exchange for large sums of money. This because the Geliening, a drug offered in China to cancer patients is too expensive to be afforded by the majority of cancer patients in the country. As a result, the desperate Cheng falls for the deal and agrees to smuggle the inexpensive generic Indian drug to besides assisting cancer patients, also solve his financial crisis. The film further highlights how poor devastated families who have suffered from financial implications of costly cancer treatment get relief from Cheng's cheap cancer products from India. However, the problem starts looming when law enforcing agencies from China notice that there are contraband Geliening in circulation. As a result, the agencies begin crackdown against generic drugs that they claimed their sales were not licensed. Further, the original Geliening producing company also vowed to sue the Indian government for taking away its patent rights of producing the drug.
Critical Analysis of the Movie Dying For Survival
Although Dying for Survival movie has more comedic elements, it displays more social implications in the lives of citizens. The drug that was considered counterfeit is used by Lu Yong to help large numbers of patients who have cancer yet cannot afford the exorbitantly charged Pharma products. Veenat becomes an effective import from India that, although unapproved for sale to patients in China, gained huge popularity among cancer patients in the country.
Dying for Survival is a film that can be branded as a smash hit. This is because it amassed a surprising 200 million US dollars in its opening weekend. The movie is filled with realities that face the majority of Chinese citizens and to some extent, the manner in which businessman Lu Yong was arrested, despite bringing relief to the deserving citizens. The government’s role is to provide essential and affordable services to it...