Xiaolian Peng and S. Louisa Wei have done world-class investigative journalism in producing a remarkable state-of-the-art documentary which provides not only the first general introduction to the Hu Feng case, the most important purge of a writer and his literary associates in modern China's history, but also a tantalizing first glimpse for the international audience into the exciting new movement in underground documentary filmmaking going on now behind the scenes in China.

Hu Feng (1902-1985), the son of an unskilled worker in a village rose to become the most prominent Marxist literary theoretician in China for three decades from the 1930s through the 1950s and arguably much longer. The victim of petty jealousy as much as political foul-play, his fall had repercussions in the literary world still felt today.

In " Storm Under the Sun" (Hong Ri Feng Bao) the filmmakers have traced down dozens of participants, victims and survivors of a mass campaign against the freedom of expression, one which was in fact an important precursor of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. Without an understanding of the Hu Feng case, it becomes difficult to attain clarity on the events which have taken place in China since the Communist victory in 1949.

The English version of this documentary is a multilingual film narrated in English but with the original soundtrack of clearly subtitled interviews offers an exciting and accessible chance for students, scholars and the general public alike to attain that clarity of perspective. The blend of graphics and archival footage is particularly effective. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in China.