japrice-26876 This film is definitely a powerful and engaging movie. I did not find it to be a happy type film. It was more of a sad film worth watching as it shows how disorganized and terrible China is as a Country. The director showed all the facts by addressing them in a straightforward manner. The film is based on true events. Dearest tells the heartbreaking story of a divorced couple losing their three-year old son in the coastal city of Shenzhen and the ordeal of searching for him. But, it is not just a child abduction story. The film shows the mass amounts a child abduction present in China, along with female abductions. The two parents eventually find their son three years later on a farm with the women who's husband had kidnapped their child 3 years prior. They have a hard time taking him back from the family, but they eventually succeed. However, the child does not remember who they are and has grown to think the abductors were his biological parents, along with a sister who was "found" by the abductor. The police get involved and the parents who had their son kidnapped get their boy back, with his assumed sister put into an orphanage and the abductors wife is thrown into prison. 6 months late the abductor gets out of prison and tries to get the children back because she has grown to believe that they were her real children through the lie that her dead husband had told her about going to adopt the child and supposedly finding the little girl. The abductors wife tries to get help from old workers of her husband who have fled to Shenzhen, but they ignore her because they would be looked upon as inferior if they associated with a farmland poor person. She eventually tries to hire a lawyer and he is reluctant at first but eventually sees the extent to which this women will go to get her assumed child back. In the end she does not and finds out that she is pregnant with the baby of a man who she offered sex with for help.

Lily Schneider The film, Dearest, filmed and directed by Peter Chan, was a very difficult film to watch. Kidnapping is something that scares me so much, and so seeing these events and elements in the film made me very sad and scared. It was very interesting to see how the "adoptive" parents were almost forced to react to the situation. The "adoptive" mother grew so close to Pengpeng because she probably lost someone close to her before. I found this very sad because she was unaware of the fact that he was actually abducted by the woman's husband. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a little mystery or feels a thrill in family tragedies.

olrovin Dearest was a very unique, interesting movie about child abduction and the story of parents doing everything they can to find their children. I have never seen a movie from China before but I liked this one. When I think about China my first thought is about their government and communism. It was interesting to me how there was no mention of communism at all throughout the movie. It is easy to see just one side of a country when you learn about certain "defining" characteristics and harder to remember that there are millions of people in countries like China who are just trying to live their lives. This movie helped me see that Chinese people are very similar to me. It also allowed me to get an insight into what it would be like to have your child abducted and the struggle that you have to deal with even after your child is returned to you. Peng-peng had completely forgotten about his birth parents because he was abducted when he was 3; kids rarely remember anything about their lives before the age of 3 so it was probably fairly easy to adjust to his new life. Overall, I would give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Kicino Dearest's trailer is sensational, showing all kinds of crying faces and I was not looking forward to see it. But I like Peter Chan, Wei Zhao and Bo Huang. So I went anyway. Well, I cannot say I like it but I think it is worth watching as it shows how disorganized and terrible China is as a country. And I think the director has presented all the facts in quite an objective way.Based on true events, Dearest tells the heartbreaking story of a divorced couple losing their three-year old son in the coastal city of Shenzhen and the ordeal of searching for him. Yet it is not simply a child abduction story, through the story of Tian Wenjun (Bo Huang) and Li Hongqin (Zhao Wei), we realize that child abduction is widespread in China, as with woman kidnap, and the heartless scam of people tricking parents of the kidnapped kids, and the ridiculous policy of allowing parents to have a second child only after proving their first child is dead. What the movie did not show is what the abductors do to the children – be it training them to be thieves, or sedating them to be beggars, or child labors, or child prostitute, or selling them overseas or to parents who cannot have kids … More depressing truths.But what it shows is already thought-provoking and disheartening. I cried quite a number of times. For a child, it is sad enough being taken away from your family. But what is sadder is being taken away from another family again and could not recognize your birth parents. Wei Zhao is brilliant in portraying a desperate, innocent but determent mother from a remote village who descends to the southern city of Shenzhen to look for her son. Her motive is pure and noble but the complex situation, including her husband's lies has put her in some pathetic situation. It is appalling that this is based on a true stories as at the end credits, we see pictures of the original parents, the farmer, the abducted child and the support group of parents losing their children. Very impressive but sad because these abductions are still happening every single day. Another thought is, with such vast geography and disparity of wealth, the quality of the people are incredibly low. So low that they often resort to physical violence to solve problems – even outside the courthouse! We heard about these abductions in the news and on the net but this is the first time I encountered these on the big screen. Looking around us, so what if you have your kid in safety in China, you need to shop around for reliable formula milk powder that is safe. That explains why Chinese are snatching up formula milk from supermarkets all over the world from Japan to Germany, let alone Hong Kong. Life must be very tough if you were born and being raised in China. There is no system, or if/when there is, it is inhuman and unreasonable, not to mention the widespread corruption that hinders justice. Under this kind of system, it seems it would be hard to nourish caring, rational and reasonable human beings who looks beyond money and short term profit. The ripped off paralegal Gao Xia (Dawei Tung) sums it up well though awkwardly in the movie: if people would consider others' point of view this country would have been so much better. They have just forgot/ignored Confucius' Golden Rule. How ironic. A great glimpse into the terrible life in China.