Congressman Says ‘Unbroken’ Documentary Highlights Threat of Communism

WASHINGTON—The newly released documentary “Unbroken: The Untold Story of Shen Yun” is more than a film about the New York-based classical Chinese dance and music company, according to Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.); he said it serves as a statement against the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) ideology.

Stutzman hosted a special presentation of the documentary on the U.S. Capitol on July 22 to highlight the Chinese regime’s threats to artistic freedom in America. 

“What we need to take away from this is that we don’t want communism in America,” Stutzman told reporters before the event. 

“We want freedom.”

Shen Yun Performing Arts, founded in 2006 with the mission to revive China’s traditional culture before communist rule, has faced an increasingly aggressive interference campaign by the CCP, including smear campaigns, paid protests, bomb threats, and tire slashings. 

The documentary, produced by The Epoch Times’ sister outlet NTD, premiered in New York City in March. Through the eyes of two brothers—Lucas and Jesse Browde—and their fellow Shen Yun performers, the film highlights spiritual conviction in the face of the Chinese regime’s transnational repression. 

“Shen Yun does a beautiful job of telling the story, the history of real China pre-CCP,” Stutzman said. 

“When people have freedom, great things happen.”

Socialism, communism, and Marxism are “only successful for a few people,” he said. “We tend to repeat history. If we don’t know history and fight against those evil forces, that would like to take us back to the times that we’ve seen already fail.”

In communist countries, people are “constantly being dictated on what they can and cannot do,” Stutzman told The Epoch Times.

By contrast, he said, the United States offers people opportunities to pursue their own paths, which he argued is what makes America “the greatest country in the world.”

“If you give the Chinese people the freedoms that Americans have, I cannot imagine what China would look like,” Stutzman said.

China without communism “would just be incredible with innovation and with growth and with new technologies and prosperity,” he said.

Stutzman said at the event that he would share information about the documentary with his colleagues. 

“I would have loved to have 535 members of Congress here tonight to see this,” he said. 

President Donald Trump on July 22 also spoke about communism. At a rally in Marietta, Georgia, he said the United States would “never be a communist country.”

Stutzman cited that as he introduced the film.

“We need to continue to fight back,” he said. “Once the American people truly understand, we always make the right decision.”

‘A Principle’

Shen Yun’s program features classical Chinese dance as well as some story-based dances that depict contemporary stories of the plight and courage of Falun Dafa practitioners in China. 

Speaking at the event, Lance said that about 90 performers and individuals who work at Shen Yun have family members who have experienced persecution in China because of their faith. 

Rachel Chen, a Shen Yun violist, recalled seeing a Chinese woman approach the orchestra pit to talk with a Shen Yun erhu player during a performance intermission in the Netherlands several years ago. 

The erhu player later told Chen, “We were in the same labor camp together.”

“It inspires me each time I think back to that moment,” Chen said during the panel discussion. 

Shen Yun emcee Leeshai Lemish said the CCP considers the performing arts company an “existential threat.” 

“We just undo all this work of the Communist Party. Plus, we’re showing what they’re doing to people in China, so of course they’re afraid of it. It would be strange if they weren’t, and I think that just shows their insecurity and their illegitimacy,” Lemish said.

Jesse Browde has been dancing with Shen Yun for seven years. 

“When you’re born into something, your mission is to uphold it, no matter what it gets faced with,” he said. That includes the attacks Shen Yun has faced and the transnational repression in America, he said during the panel discussion.

“‘Unbroken’ isn’t a documentary; it’s a principle that I think everyone should take into heart and always fight for what’s right,” he said. 

Audience members said it was important to hold such an event at the nation’s capital and inform the American public about the foreign threats the country is facing.

Paul Kamenar, legal counsel to the National Legal and Policy Center, said Washington should be enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act to counter CCP propaganda, especially when the campaign involves using Chinese agents in the United States.

Ernest Francis, a former trial and appellate attorney, agreed. 

“I think we need to take a close look at what’s already on the books,” he told NTD.

Jim Trusty, former federal prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney, said U.S. law enforcement should take a “zero tolerance approach” to CCP activities in the United States.

“All of it is a cancer, and all of it is suppressing basic human rights of people that deserve better,” he told NTD.