The most interesting thing about “Dying to Survive,” a new Chinese drama about one man’s struggle to profit and then preach about healthcare reform, is its familiarity.
Dying to Survive is directed by Wen Muye, CO produced by Ning Hao and Xu Zheng and starred by Xu Zheng, Zhou Yiwei, Wang Chuanjun, Tan Zhuo, Zhang Yu and Yang Xinming. The film was released in China on July 5, 2018.
The film tells the story of Cheng Yong, the owner of an Indian Oil shop, who became the exclusive agent of the Indian generic drug “Lenin” from a male health care product vendor who couldn’t pay the rent.
On March 12, 2020, Dying to Survive released a Japanese poster with the title translated as “God of medicine”. It is determined that it will be released in Japan from May 1.
Plot of Dying to Survive
Cheng Yong(Xu Zhen), the owner of the Indian Oil shop, has a poor life. There is little business in the shop. His father is critically ill and the operating expenses are not fully raised. His ex-wife conceived a child with a rich man and took away the custody of his son.
One day, a patient with leukemia came to the store and begged him to bring back a batch of imitation special drugs from India, so that patients who can’t afford to buy genuine drugs at sky-high prices can keep a glimmer of life. Cheng Yong, who was unwilling to do anything but had no way out, got a fortune overnight and saved countless people with affordable special drugs, which made him known as the “God of medicine” by patients. However, with the interests, it was a multi-party tug of war that put his life and the lives of poor patients in crisis.
Combined with partial reality, with great written and brilliant acting, one of the best films I’ve ever seen in recent years.
IMDb
The most interesting thing about “Dying to Survive,” a new Chinese drama about one man’s struggle to profit and then preach about healthcare reform, is its familiarity.
Roger Ebert
Wen Muye’s record-breaking social drama ‘Dying to Survive,’ based on a real-life story, lauds a Chinese businessman for circumventing big pharma and illegally importing cheap generic medicine.
The Hollywood Reporter
Behind the scenes
The film is adapted from real events, but the specific characters have certain fictional and recreated plots. In order to better present the different personalities of the characters, the stars have specially experienced life: Wang Chuanjun once lived with the patients in the ward of the hematology department; Zhou Yiwei once went to experience the working state of the police; Yang Xinming went to church to do many interviews, visit patients and so on.
In order to show the character’s weakness, Wang Chuanjun completed 8000 rope skipping every day and lost more than 20 kg. He stayed up for two days in order to show the feeling that the whole person collapsed in front of the camera.
Tan Zhuo practiced for a month and a half for a pole dance play with less than 20 seconds. There are bruises on the legs and damage to the soft tissue of the knee.
Yang Xinming, who can’t speak English at all, needs to recite a lot of English lines word by word.
