If you remember the training Balboa undertook in the Russian mountains in “Rocky 4”, you can now be surprised, since there are actually some people who do train like that and even harsher, in Inner Mongolia, in the city of GenHe, the coldest part of China, where temperatures occasionally reach even -58. They are a team of teenagers from underprivileged backgrounds, who, under the tutelage of a dedicated but also quite harsh and intently goal-oriented coach Liu Siwei find themselves running with full-face masks on through the snow, occasionally even at night. Their appearance points towards a horror movie in the way their masks are filled with snow, but this is just another training session for them. A training that is equally harsh even when they are not running, since the methods they use to get used to the cold are equally intense, and even brutal on occasion.
“Keep Running” had its international premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
What drives them though, is not just the intense yelling of their coach, but the opportunity the sports school they attend offers them, to go to a university on a sport scholarship and finally get away from a place where they even have to wear jackets when they are staying inside their houses.
At the same time, they also have to face intense family problems, since some of them are children of divorced parents who are nowhere to be found, and others are discouraged from pursuing running, like the Tang twins, in one of the most memorable of the stories presented here. One of the runners, Bi Fengyang, eventually emerges as a kind of protagonist, as his life with his grandmother, a serious injury that almost leaves him unable to run, and intense psychological issues deem his story rather captivating.
Most of the stories emerge as ones of success, but questions about the methods of Liu Siwei will definitely arise, particularly to the western viewer whose mentality frequently focuses on the rights of the trainee than the value of achieving your goal, which seems to be the main driving force here.The world of competitive sports is, infamously, very tough, since it revolves around people who give their whole life on achieving something that, in order to achieve it, have to surpass others who have done exactly the same. In this case, this element becomes even worse, since sports are the only chance for these kids to get away and have a shot at a life outside the confines of the particular area of Inner Mongolia. This aspect becomes the epicenter of the narrative, and one that justifies both their efforts and their coach's attitude, with Geting Sun highlighting it in the best way through the thorough presentation of the plethora of stories.
Liu Siwei is also a focal point, as a man whose methods have excellent results, but also one who emerges as a rather unlikeable persona, with the fact that the reward he gets in the end is bigger than all of his students, adding even more towards his portrait.
Overall, the picture Geting Sun paints is rather bleak, both contextually and visually. In order to tone down this element and give his viewers some relief, he has included a number of images of the area, occasionally panoramic, that highlight its inhospitable beauty in the best way, with DP Mai Zhu doing a great job in that regard, alongside Sun who is also credited as cinematographer. Furthermore, the scenes accompanied by music and occasionally rapid editing by Χiaoling Han also move towards the same direction, with the last one in particular being rather impressive. A bit of trimming, however, could have helped here, since, at 87 minutes and with the somewhat repetitive nature of running as a sport, the documentary overextends its welcome a bit, although the overall context definitely compensates.
Essentially, “Keep Running” is a genuine drama/coming-of-age film, which shows, once more, that real-life stories can be much more imaginative and dramatic than fiction, as much as an ode to the youthful spirit that can overcome all obstacles, particularly under intense pressure.
