The rare cheerful parts of the film was when the young Guan Jintao started winning some minor competitions in his teenage years. His proud mother was happy, but deep inside she was hurting because her beloved husband couldn't celebrate their son's achievements together with them.
She continued to work hard to support her son's increasing expenses. Guan Jintao wanted to help earn some money, suggesting that he work part-time but she rejected his idea. She wanted him to focus on his training and leave all the money worries to her.
This was also around the time Guan Jintao finally noticed that his mother was suffering from depression, though she tried hard to keep it to herself. However, she just dismissed his concerns, telling him not to worry about her.
"It's a mother's job to worry about her child, not the other way around," she told him.
After winning a major swimming competition, a coach noticed Guan Jintao's talent. Many already knew about this part of the story from Guan Jintao's own biopics. The coach and athlete would create history together.
The coach took the teenager under his tutelage, greatly easing off most of the financial burdens from Guan Jintao's mother.
Guan Jintao started to dominate swimming competitions nationally and internationally. He gradually became a well-known figure in both parasports [1] and unified sports [2].
Knowing that his mother was cheering for him among the stands, he thought that perhaps she was already recovering from her depression. He was wrong.
Her depression continued to fester within her, killing her slowly day by day.
Finally, Guan Jintao's biggest dream came true. He participated in the Paralympics held in another country and took home multiple gold medals. When he returned to the country, he received a hero's welcome and was even awarded recognition by the country's president for his achievements.
Throughout his rise as a Paralympian star in the country in the next few years, his mother appeared to become more serene. He took this as good sign and continued to work hard in his sports career. He eventually met and fell in love with a woman. They married and lived together with his mother.
Everything was perfect. Despite his disability, he felt like the happiest man in the world.
Or so he thought.
One day, they found his mother dead on her bed clutching a framed picture of her beloved husband. People who saw her observed that she looked like she was just sleeping peacefully. There was even a soft smile on her face.
An empty packet with traces of an unidentified powder was found on her bedside table beside a sealed enveloped labelled "To My Son". It contained her last words before she ended her own life.
It took a few months after his mother's funeral before Guan Jintao gathered enough courage to open her suicide note. His wife read it for him.
The suicide note was several pages long. It was through the letter that Guan Jintao finally learned the whole story of his mother's struggles and sufferings throughout her whole life, especially after his father died before his birth.
His mother fought her inner demons by herself. She must've felt so alone, yet she tried to be strong for his sake.
At the end of the letter, she wrote:
Guan Jintao continued to grieve for his mother. But at the same time, he was also relieved that she was finally free from all her living sufferings in this cruel world.
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The film's exposure during the first weeks since it premiered was excellent for an indie film but nowhere near the level of the big budget blockbuster movies.
A large part of its publicity was attributed to Iris Long's continued promotion of both the film and her accompanying soundtrack album.
Paralympian Guan Jintao also took a break from his job to help promote the film, guesting in radio and TV shows and granting interviews for newspapers and magazines. After he retired from his sports career, he began travelling around the world as a motivational speaker. He was also serving as an active ambassador for the country's sports association for persons with disabilities.
Despite the effort of these two, they still couldn't compare to the promotional prowess of the blockbuster movies' superstar actors and actresses. Most people in the country preferred to watch these popular superstars over some unknown actors and actresses in an indie film.
The viewership growth rate of "Strong Yet Broken" was slow and mostly depended from word of mouth and the fans of both Iris Long and Guan Jintao. Although the majority of critic reviews being published praised and raved about the film, the general public avoided it because they heard it was a tragedy. They preferred the usual comedy, romance or action over a serious, true to life tragic movie.
This continued for almost a month until an unexpected development occurred. A leading non-profit organization advocating for mental healthcare in the country suddenly started a vocal support for "Strong Yet Broken".
Some days later, other organizations followed suit. First was a support network of mothers with postpartum depression. Next was an association of parents with children with disabilities. Finally, a women's issues society joined in supporting the film.
Using the film as reference, TV programs started featuring serious conversations about motherhood, mental health issues and parenting children with special needs. A few university professors teaching psychology across the country even began making it mandatory for their students to watch the movie.
Before the production crew and cast realized what was happening, "Strong Yet Broken" suddenly became a catalyst for serious conversations about important issues throughout the country. It wasn't just the film industry that was paying attention to it anymore. Even experts from several other fields such as mental health were lauding its raw and unromanticized depiction of depression.
Finally, the general public started to take notice. Groups of mothers started lining up at the theatres because they heard that the film was about the struggles of motherhood. After watching the film, they all came out of the theatres feeling like they were all squeezed dry of their emotions. They went home to their families and used the film as an example to remind their husbands and children to treasure them, the mothers.
The film wasn't the only one that benefited from this. A horde of mothers suddenly became freshly minted Black Stars.
With the purchasing power of these mothers, Iris' soundtrack album which debuted at an underwhelming number 13 in the music charts suddenly skyrocketed up to sit securely at number 2. The cinematic version of "Phantom of Your Love" also reached number 2 in the singles ranking.
Number 1 was taken by a duet of much-loved veteran singers who finally released a love song together after more than a decade. Kicking them off from their top spot would be very difficult even for Iris.
"I can't believe that the entire film score was composed by a twenty-year old kid!" A mother exclaimed to her fellow new Black Stars who were also mothers.
"I know, right? My eldest son is older than Iris Long, but compared to her achievements, my son still has no idea what to do with his life."
"Iris Long, I want to hate you because every time I hear 'Phantom of Your Love', I start remembering the film and cry. You don't understand how embarrassing it is to suddenly start bawling in the middle of shopping for groceries when the song plays inside the store!"
While all of these were happening, LX Productions called the film's original producer and the director for a meeting.
The topic?
Award submissions.
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Notes:
[1] Sports played by people with a disabilities, including physical and intellectual disabilities
[2] Sports involving teams made up of athletes with or without disabilities.