According to THE WARNING (another documentary worth seeing), "the superstructure for a police state is in place" in this country. "Hope is an illusion." We have "an Imperial Presidency of a corporate state," and, until there's a war-crimes tribunal, politicians can pay all the lip-service they like to the notion of "Democracy," but TRUE Democracy will continue to wither on the vine. In MOVING THE MOUNTAIN, we see students on a hunger strike wearing headbands that read: "STARVING FOR DEMOCRACY." It's a LITERAL statement, in their case. "Democracy does not come without sacrifice," warns Wei Jingsheng ("The Father of Democracy" in China). But, "China's problems must be solved in China," Wang Dan asserts. The guilt expressed by the displaced dissidents should reflect most strongly on the government that continues to this day to deny them the Democracy they crave. Li Lu put it best: "Behind that young man facing down that row of tanks stood an entire generation." His background information about The Democracy Wall and its unexpected widespread acceptance (as well as his own tragic personal story) perfectly sets the stage for what was to come. "A great movement will never die," he concludes. "The hope is still there." One of his last thoughts is the most moving: "I have the sense that once again I will be summoned by History."

A powerful, informative and sometimes deeply moving documentary about China's Tianamen Square protests in 1989; what led up to them, how they went down, and their aftermath for the participants. Both the interviews and the historical footage are riveting. What isn't quite as solid is Apted's choice to stage reenactments, and sometimes intercut them into the middle of real footage. It can feel hokey and unneeded. But that one minor glitch is not enough to seriously damage such an important and worthy work.It's a shame that such an important and alive work on recent history has been allowed to go out of print in the US, although some of the better video stores still have copies.

What happened in 1989 was grandeur. I am not sure what this is called. The first ten minutes, one student leader talked about his childhood which really has nothing to do with the 1989 students' democracy movement. So it is not a 100% documentary about it.And basically, he spent the whole time talking about himself, he was sort of a narrator for this film. They even found someone who looked like him to act as him when he was a boy. The film would be more effective, if they actually have someone in the background to tell the viewers from the beginning till the end of the student democracy movement and filled it with personal interviews, raw footages, etc.A good documentary about the movement can easily make viewers cry. This one lacks of the emotional elements. It doe have real shocking footages which I have never seen before.I watched the DVD, it doesn't have closed caption or English subtitle. Some of the people who appeared in film speak with an accent, so sometimes it is hard to understand them.

"Moving the Mountain" does an excellent job of showing the complexity of a protest movement as it develops, apparently, spontaneously. The film roots the origins of the Tiananmen Square protests in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. Although shifts in Chinese governmental policy and Glasnost in Russia gave the participants the courage to ask for a dialogue about greater democracy, the Chinese government feared the instability created by a group of people questioning the government. The film will give you a sober account of the innocence and naivety of a group of young people who simply want to make a change for the better in their country. With the continuing globalization protests and the creation of the `Patriot Acts', this film is quite relevant for a glimpse into the motivations that bring diverse groups together in a common cause, not to mention the intolerance of the people in power to the public questioning of their policies. "Moving the Mountain" provides one example of the many protest movements that occur around the world, meeting with varying levels of repression. This film is well worth viewing and may stimulate a hunger to find out more about the conditions in China as well as other protest movements.