Arts and Culture

Chinese movie review : Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress

Director: Dai Sijie
Year: 2002
Starring: Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Cong Zhijun
Time: 110mins
Certificate: 12A

Based on the director's best-seller and prize-winning autobiography, the film tells the story of two city boys sent to the country for re-education during the Cultural Revolution.

It opens with Ma and Lao trudging through Phoenix Mountains and arriving at the village where the villagers subsequently relieve them of their bourgeois belongings. The villagers' illiteracy becomes apparent when they discover a cookbook which is burned as it is deemed to encourage bourgeois banquets.

The boys resign themselves to their fate and soon find themselves doing hard labour in the mines and fields. They befriend the local tailor's grand-daughter, a precocious but endearing girl, who they come to know as the Little Seamstress. It is through her, that Ma and Lao learn the whereabouts of a suitcase of banned books which they steal and hide in a mountain cavern.

The books turn out to be translated western literature from the likes of Dumas, Gogol and Kipling. Ma and Lao decide to educate the Little Seamstress and take it in turns to read the stories to her. As time progresses, the boys' storytelling, straight from the pages of the illegal books, spreads to a wider audience and eventually enthrals entire village.

The Little Seamstress is captivated by the stories and in particular by the writings of Balzac. As the trio spend more time together, Ma and Lao find their fondness for the Little Seamstress grows. However, their education of her results in consequences which neither may be prepared for.

Sijie has crafted a film full of charm and wit. It offers an insight into the re-education programme during the Cultural Revolution although it does not aim to make any political statements. It merely states this is what happened and this is how life was for everyone.

The cinematography is outstanding with shots of lush green mountains and panoramic views of the vastness of Phoenix Mountains. At the same time, the isolation and remoteness of the village is conveyed. Against this backdrop, the closeness and friendship shared by Ma, Lao and the Little Seamstress are all the more prominent and touching.

The portrayals of Ma, Lao and the Little Seamstress are fresh and convincing. It is easy to bond with the characters and feel as they do whether they are up to teenage mischief or grappling with adult anguish.

This is a sensitive film about friendship, love and the coming-of-age. Recommended viewing. I give it a bourgeois 4 out of 5.

Reviewed by Simon Chan.

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