Arts and Culture

Chinese movie review : "Yellow Earth "

Cast: Xue Bai, Wang Xueqi, Tan Tuo, Liu Qiang
Director: Chen Kaige
Director of Photography: Zhang Yimou
Running Time: 89 minutes
Language: Mandarin
Certificate: U
Year: 1984

Synopsis:
A Communist soldier travels to a remote village to collect folk ballads for the Communist Party. Upon his arrival he is invited to a wedding banquet, where he witnesses a marriage between a young girl barely over her teens to an old man. He chooses to stay with a peasant family and learns the way of the peasant farmer and the traditional arranged marriage of the young daughter, Cui Qiao, to a rich old man.

Review:
The young girl, Cui Qiao, is a folk singer and sings of her despairing fate as a girl who will eventually be married off to an old man, in return for the money. Cui Qiao knows of this fate because her elder sister shared the same. You can see how much she is suppressing her true feelings to be an obedient daughter of China like so many like her.

The singing in this film carries much of the story and feelings of the peasant family. The family does not communicate each other's feelings as such. Even the son, who doesn't like to talk and wears no expression on his face, sings and when he does he is comical and lively.

The soldier's part of the film is as an observer. He expresses astonishment at how the old traditional ways of China still exist, together with pity of the fate that the family faces. He gently persuades the family that time has changed but one man cannot change the fortune of those whose lives are ignorant and dependent on tradition and the surrounding landscape.

The film is beautifully shot with brilliant scenic views of the landscape and the Yellow River, from where Cui Qiao carries water from to her home, a four mile walk. What must be appreciated is the subtlety of the story, which reflects the simple way of life in China in the late thirties.

Verdict:
The film shows that the landscape/earth is their livelihood, bringing food and prosperity; it is what dictates the lives of a peasant family. The land that they live on is in fact their lives. The two are very much one and the same. The old traditional way of the peasants praying for rain is fascinating to watch. However, this film can be viewed as being terribly slow and many could fall asleep during this film, no doubt.

3 out of 5.

Wendy Wong

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