Robin Hood might be a centuries old folk hero, but his reincarnations seem to pop up in real life, including the true story behind Dying to Survive. Alternatively translated as I’m Not A Medicine God, the modern day Chinese iteration is initially less concerned over the common good and more concerned with money. It makes for a much more humorous take, as the ordinary peddler bribes, smuggles, and asserts his desire for profit, but it also sets up the real desperation created by a medical drug industry that hopes to incentivize research and protect consumers, but inadvertently blocks the very people that needs said drugs. Dying to Survive might focus more on the smuggler than critiquing this conundrum, but nonetheless it understands the real recurring tragedy that modern life can’t seem to completely solve.
"Though it could have done with tighter editing in several scenes that linger too long after getting their messages across, "Survive" earns the tears many viewers will have shed..."
— Richard Kuipers
A Chinese leukaemia patient smuggles cheap but untested pharmaceuticals from India to help hundreds of Chinese people suffering from cancer.
Desperate for money, middle-aged, deadbeat Shanghai shopkeeper Cheng Yong smuggles a cheap, generic version of Swiss drug imatinib from India.
How morally dubious Cheng Yong is portrayed. Certain scenes might keep some viewers from totally siding with him, but it highlights how morality and survival can seem to be at odds with each other today.
Man, I did NOT expect the tears…
