A Young Patriot documents four years in the life of Zhao, a post-90s Chinese idealist and ardent patriot. The film begins with 19-year-old Zhao participating in a massive protest related to the dispute between China and Japan over the Pinnacle Islands, during which Zhao passionately waves the Chinese flag and shouts “Long Live China!” This loyalty to the Communist Party leads him to political activism in college and then volunteer work in a poor village in Sichuan. But when he witnesses his grandparents being forced to leave home because of the government’s urban development policy, Zhao begins to change. With Maoism and the Cultural Revolution long in the past, China has become a global powerhouse with immense economic strength. However, Zhao, facing the realities of a China where the majority of people still have not benefited from its massive economic growth and individual choices are easily disregarded by the government, can no longer be as passionate about the country as he once was. The film chronologically follows the subtle changes that Zhao experiences, giving viewers a sense of this patriotic young man’s anxiety as well as the social unrest that surrounds him. (Minah JEONG)