湖南的一個普通而平靜的村鎮，一條等待動工的省級高速公路即將穿過這裡。因為這條造價高昂的道路，許許多多以修路為業的外地人和各種施工機械潮水般湧向這裡，在接下來的三年多的寒來暑往裡，他們將紮根於這個陌生的地方獲取利益，同時也灑下汗水與血水，甚至可能一不留神失去寶貴的生命。
隨著他們的到來，當地的村莊和百姓也面臨被影響被改變的命運：田地徵收，房屋拆遷，廟宇重建，而人心和道德也一再經受微妙而持久的衝擊。修路者和當地人，兩個不同群體的生活和命運與這條道路緊緊聯繫在一起，彼此交織，偶爾衝撞，或喜或悲，或苦或樂。某種意義上，這條歷經艱辛的道路是國家發展之路的一個象徵。
SYNOPSIS
For three decades the world has witnessed China’s fast economic development. In 2009 the Chinese government began to implement a 586 billion US dollars plan as an attempt to minimize the impact of the global financial crisis on the world's second largest economy. The plan was to invest in infrastructure and social welfare throughout China.
Some scholars have called the plan the Second Great Leap Forward referring to Chairman Mao’s disastrous plan in the 1940s that cost millions of lives. It was an absurd period where all citizens were mobilized to refine metal.
The Chinese director Zhang Zanbo managed in 2010 to get unique and unprecedented access to the implementation of the financial plan. For more than three years the director filmed the making of a section of a highway through a quiet village in Hunan, a province in central China. This is the province where Chairman Mao was born. The result is a rare insight to the impact the financial plan has had on a local community.
For three years Zhang Zanbo followed the construction of the highway from start to finish. The main character throughout the film is Mr. Meng, the vice president of a private construction company responsible for the construction of a part of the highway system. He appears whenever there is an argument or a fight. In China, a great number of people are working for “stabilization”, and Mr. Meng is leading such a position in the construction company.
Zhang Zanbo has filmed the management team as well as the local residents and the workers.
The film follows local villagers and peasants that are forced to move due to land acquisition. Temples are moved and migrant workers experience lack of safety under very difficult working conditions. Most of the workers on the construction site are migrant Chinese workers that travel around the country to make a living.
The management of the construction company has been strongly supported by the Communist Party and the local authorities, but they want their share of the financial apple. As a consequence corruption and violence has become a common part of the making of the road.
製作及出品公司：北京北斗星宇文化傳播有限公司(Galaxion Films)出品：視納華仁文化傳播股份有限公司
Presented by：CNEX Studio Corporation
導演：張贊波 Zhang Zanbo
製片人：梁為超 Richard Liang
聯合製片人(Co-producer)：
Plus Pictures / Mette Heide heide@pluspictures.dk/http://www.pluspictures.dk/
Let the Chairman Go First / Li Shanshan / hejshan@hotmail.com
Blackfin Productions / Wang Zijian / jean@blackfin.cc攝影 Camera: 張贊波 Zhang Zanbo
錄音Sound: 張贊波 Zhang Zanbo
剪輯Editor: 張贊波 Zhang Zanbo/Steen Johannessen/Jean Tsien, ACE
藝術指導Art Consultant: 清涼Qing Liang
聲音設計Sound Design: Henrik Gugge Garnov
作曲Music by: AudioNetwork.com, Jonas Colstrup