'BEI BEI' Presents the Consequences of Troubling Abortion Laws
Bei Bei Shuai moved to America with very humble aspirations. She wanted to achieve the American dream—get an education, find a partner, start a family, buy a house or at least acquire a taste of this fantasy. She left her native home of Shanghai, China and situated herself in Indiana where these dreams were much costlier and not as accessible as she hoped for. She did find a boyfriend, a Chinese-immigrant like herself, who soon broke his promise of starting a family and left Bei Bei in her eighth month of pregnancy. Absolutely devastated, she fell into a state of suicidal depression and ingested what she believed to be a deadly dose of rat poison. While Bei Bei’s life was saved by doctors at a nearby hospital her daughter, whom she’d wish to name Angel, died three days later. In the state of Indiana, Bei Bei’s actions were lawfully charged as first-degree murder and attempted feticide. She would spend 453 days in county prison before being released.
After the documentary encapsulates the past 14 months of her life through a montage sequence, viewers are propelled into Bei Bei’s life after prison. We meet Linda Pence, a bubbly local Indianapolis attorney who decides to represent Bei Bei. In another scene, moments after she is released from prison, we meet her friends who took over the work of the restaurant Bei Bei was running and who were instrumental in helping her get released from prison.
One of the many themes present in BEI BEI is the film’s subtle exploration of her feelings of isolation and loneliness. It’s about a woman who faces a lawsuit unprecedented in all 196 years of Indiana history. On a more surface level, BEI BEI, is a film that underscores how deeply embedded discrimination against women, immigrants, working-class and the poor is in the United States. Adding to this brew, BEI BEI includes dialogue, or lack thereof, on mental illness as a central theme Rather than recognize her actions as a consequence of crippling financial burdens and her declining mental condition, for example, local officials and the state of Indiana are quick to stamp Bei Bei as a criminal.
She does have the option to be deported and have all charges dropped but admirably still chooses to fight for her rights. Along with Linda Pence’s animated and dedicated character, a heart-warming number of local supporters fight for Bei Bei, hoping to stop what they see as a gross miscarriage of justice.
The strong headed activism captured in this documentary is infectious at times but never seems intended to directly influence the opinions of viewers. Audiences, as they should be in a high-tension political documentary, are situated as mere spectators in a series of well-edited events.
Pictured above (left to right): Bei bei Shuai and her attorney Linda Pence protesting the criminalization of pregnant woman.
In a tightly-knight 77 minutes, veteran documentarians Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt (Education of Shelby Knox and Young Lakota) encapsulate an incredibly multi-layered and intersectional issue without projecting their own politics. The world of BEI BEI simply unfolds without seeming to possess a direct political agenda. Absent is a voice-of-god narration or conventional interviewer-interviewee approaches. Viewers are encouraged to make their own inferences, arriving at their own political stances in response to the details arranged in front of them.
A detailed montage explores Bei Bei’s past. A half-hour or so is dedicated to knowing Bei Bei on a personal level and used to explore the unique relationship with her and Pence. An interesting 10 minutes of the documentary amalgamates a series of local news coverage of Bei Bei’s case raging across the political spectrum—although most tend to be outwardly conservative. These moments are certainly not the film’s most engaging but are still crucial in building the local discourse surrounding Bei Bei. The local government sphere, which is absent of any explicit mention of Bei Bei, is also explored in an attempt to exhibit the city’s unique political climate.
Quite frankly, as grassroots pictures slowly fade away in the era of corporate media, documentaries that simply want to tell a story are quite scarce. All too often, contemporary media exploring marginalized groups seems aimed at capitalizing on the interests of various political factions, while failing to tell a good story. Instead, this honest, independent and moving documentary first aims to tell a well-crafted story. BEI BEI documents the liberation of its subject and, in its last moments, tacitly advocates for abortion rights at a national scale.
BEI BEI is available to free stream for a limited time on vimeo.