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Ai Weiwei - Never Sorry (15)

 

Anthony Quinn
Friday 10 August 2012 00:36 BST
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Alison Klayman's portrait of the Chinese artist and provocateur Ai Weiwei offers some insight into the position of freethinkers and intellectuals inside modern China.

His case may be the ultimate justification of Twitter, without which he might have been silenced altogether. But his tweets come at the expense of serious consideration of his art, despite his notable contribution to the Beijing Bird's Nest stadium and his sunflower seeds installation at the Tate's Turbine Hall in 2010.

For a man who has been persecuted and physically abused by the Chinese authorities, Weiwei projects a remarkably cheerful and philosophical presence, even when he is seen witnessing the government's spiteful demolition of his Shanghai studio.

It's unfortunate that the film ends with his arrest and 81-day detention – on release he's untypically reluctant to talk – though the documentary suggests that it will be an ongoing story. Despite what the authorities have thrown at him, here is a man who's done it his Weiwei.

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