Review | The Best Is Yet to Come movie review: journalistic integrity in China under the spotlight in enthralling drama produced by Jia Zhangke

The Best Is Yet to Come is inspired by the true story of a journalist who exposed nationwide discrimination against people living with hepatitis B in mainland China

A rare film about journalistic integrity in China, the film is an enthralling drama that frustratingly crescendos to an overly sanctimonious climax

Reading Time:2 minutes

“The Best is Yet to Come” (category I, Mandarin), directed by Wang Jing, follows Chinese journalist Han Dong (played by Bai Ke, pictured), who is based on real-life reporter Han Fudong.

Published: 4:15pm, 25 May 2023

4/5 stars

Films championing journalistic integrity and the pursuit of truth have been a mainstay in Hollywood since its earliest days, with recent hits such as Spotlight, The Post and She Said underscoring their continued popularity and dramatic heft.

Such films are understandably more scarce in mainland China, where the media remains under strict government scrutiny. But growing demand among film-goers for more grounded, fact-based stories has opened the door to inspirational human interest stories, such as the one chronicled in The Best Is Yet to Come, Wang Jing’s directorial debut.

The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2020, and is inspired by the true story of journalist Han Fudong, who exposed nationwide discrimination against an estimated 120 million people living with hepatitis B in mainland China.

Many of those with the disease were asymptomatic, barring them from employment and education opportunities across the country – which ultimately led to government reform.

Bai Ke plays Han Dong, a struggling 26-year-old who, like so many in the early 2000s, has left his steady factory job and moved to Beijing in the hopes of becoming a journalist.

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