Yellow Earth (1984) User Reviews

Chen Kaige, a challenging, innovative filmmaker of international renown

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 13 November 2005]

Perhaps the best-known member of the 'fifth generation' of young directors to graduate from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982, Chen Kaige seems likely to become a challenging, innovative filmmaker of international renown… Though working in a country noted for its aesthetic, economic and ideological conservatism, and in a film industry riven with dissent, he has so far managed to make deeply personal films of a wide moral and political relevance…

Set in 1939 in the topographically dramatic, culturally backward province of Shaanxi, Kaige's film debut "Yellow Earth" charts the brief encounter between a Communist soldier collecting folk songs and a family of villagers trapped by poverty and age-old feudal traditions…

What distinguishes Chen's film, besides its oblique, metaphorical plot and Zhang Yimou's stunning, largely static landscape photography, is its acknowledgment of the gulf between peasants and outsider, of the difficulty, even impossibility, of enforcing political and social change… Thus both aesthetically (in terms of its poetry and ambiguity) and ideologically, Chen was also acknowledging a deep division of opinion between 'official' history, as propagated by older Chinese filmmakers, and his own less idealized account of culture-clash

of Hammer....

[Meganeguard · 8/10 · 9 January 2007]

In 1937 Chiang Kai-shek's KMT and Chairman Mao's Communist Party created an uneasy alliance because of the looming collective threat of the Japanese. Steeped in archaic traditions and KMT rule many areas of China especially in poorer, northern areas such as the upper half of Shanxi province still existed in a pre-modern time without having being enlightened by the changing times occurring in the south. Although pitied by the Communists, there was also a begrudging respect for some of the customs held by the peasants. In Yellow Earth the custom brought to the fore is folk singing.

A Communist soldier brimming with enthusiasm for the teachings of Chairman Mao and belief that the said teachings will revolutionize China and bring equality to the downtrodden classes, Gu Quing, or Brother Gu, travels to Shanxi in order to gather folk songs that can be sung by the Communists to inspire others of the plight of the poor peasants. Arriving at a time in which a wedding is taking place, Brother Gu witnesses what he believes to be the oppression of tradition on the populace: fourteen year old girls being married off to old men in which sustenance and dowries are more important than true affection.

Despite his differences of opinion, Brother Gu is quite an amiable fellow and takes residence with an old, weather-beaten farmer and his children. He works with the farmer and helps plow the fields while attempting to engage in conversation with the farmer. Most of his conversations center upon the changing times and how girls are now becoming soldiers and are learning how to read and young couples are able to marry out of affection instead of being matched together. The farmer listens politely, but his concerns primarily fall within practical matters such as if it will rain soon and the engagement of his young daughter Cuiqiao. However, the words do have a greater impact on Cuiqiao, a hardworking girl with an incredible singing voice. Through the kind being of Brother Gu she learns that there is another world where girls can read and men know how to sew. Engaged to a man many years her senior, Cuiqiao desires to join Brother Gu when it is time for him to return to his home. Yet, because of the Communist party's strict rules, she cannot join the party unless asked to do so. Therefore, she must wait for Brother Gu's return. However, can she wait long enough? The only two Chen Kaige films that I have watched before Yellow Earth are the magnificent Farewell My Concubine and the magnificent travesty The Promise, so I was quite interested in viewing the respected director's landmark, debut film. Like seemingly most Chinese films that have been released in America, Yellow Earth is quite a sad film that shows a people torn between two conflicting times. However, like many of the other films created by the 5th generation film directors, which also includes the luminary Zhang Yimou who was the cinematographer for Yellow Earth, oftentimes the new and modern revolution of the old is just as bad as or worse than what was before. An important film for those interested in Chinese film and modern China, Yellow Earth does not make for an enjoyable film experience, but it does make for a poignant one.

visually rich, but it requires a little patience

[mjneu59 · 7/10 · 17 January 2011]

In this handsome but dramatically subdued portrait of life in the harsh, mountainous hinterland of mainland China a plucky young bureaucrat, collecting folk songs for the communist army, befriends a penniless widower and his children, before learning to his horror that the winsome teenage daughter is to be sold against her will into marriage with an elderly local farmer. Director Kaige Chen shows a photographer's eye for visual composition and symmetry, but the narrative structure of his film is almost non-existent. This is storytelling completely uninfluenced by Western techniques and standards, unfolding for the most part through imagery and song. Whether the result is a refreshing change of pace or an exercise in tedium will depend entire on the viewer's attitude toward classic Third World cinema.

Speaks a universal language

[howard.schumann · 26 May 2003]

Yellow Earth by Chen Kai-ge (Farewell My Concubine, Life on a String) was the first film of the so-called fifth generation of filmmakers who introduced a new aesthetic and social awareness to Chinese cinema. It is set just before World War II in Shaanxi province in Northern China near the Yellow River, an area referred to as gian shan wan he (thousands of hills and ten folds more gullies). Based on Ke Lai's novel, "Echo in the Deep Valley", the film shows the struggle of the peasants in the area known for its unyielding harshness and the folk traditions they drew on to express their anguish. As the film begins, cinematographer Zhang Yimou creates a feeling of desolation with panoramic shots of the vast landscape as a soldier from the Communist Eighth Route Army, Gu Qing (Wang Xueyin), walks over the barren hills to a small village. He says he is there to collect folk songs for the army to use so that "the people will know why they are suffering, why their women are beaten, and why they should rise up".

Comrade Gu stays with a poor family that includes 47-year old widowed father (Tan Tuo), his 13-year old daughter Cuiqiao (Xue Bai), and almost mute son Hanhan (Liu Quiang). Rather than relying on traditional narrative to convey the film's message, Kai ge uses long static shots and songs of the people to express mood and tone. The father has become embittered with his life of constant deprivation and sings "Life is hard for seasonal workers. They are hired in January, dismissed in October". Conditions are tough and the farmers pray for rain to alleviate the drought but there is no rain. At a wedding, the serving of wooden fish figures covered with sauce underscores the lack of adequate food. The film also dramatizes the sorry condition of women, showing how they had to carry heavy buckets of water on their backs for miles, and how they were forced into arranged marriages at a very young age.

Gu is seemingly confident of the fight he is waging. He lets the family know that in the South, there are no longer any arranged marriages and tells Cuiqiao about women who cut their hair, fight against the Japanese, and can read and write. She hears about her older sister's unhappy marriage and does not want to endure the same fate. "Of all us poor folk," she sings, "girls are the saddest." Cuiqiao is infatuated with Gu and wants to leave home and join the Army 200 miles away in Yanan. She knows that if she stays she will be forced to marry an older man in an arranged ceremony. When Gu leaves to return to camp, he promises to return in April. Promises alone, however, cannot change Cuiqiao's growing feeling of entrapment or the terrible consequences that follow. In its heartbreaking portrayal of people caught in lives of "quiet desperation" that even Communist ideas or marching songs cannot redeem, Yellow Earth speaks a universal language.

A film of great importance with a bold story

[mbrcf · 7/10 · 17 February 2020]

A young slodier from the communist party is sent to northern China to collect some "happy" fols songs for helping the party boost army's morale during the battle against Japanese invasion in 1939 shortly before WW2. There he meets a farmer family- a father and 2 kids- but all songs they know is about endless suffering and pain.

Director Kaige Chen uses this setting to build up a rather interesting encounter between 1. a young soldier full of ideologies and strong beliefs and 2. a poor family in rural north China with extreme living difficulties and hardships. The young soldier believes that sickles and hammers will help these poor people and build them roads but we as viewers know that such things won't happen, we've seen that no ideology will end these circumstances.

The film is believed to be a Chinese communist propaganda vessel but what I gathered from this film was that it shows communism- maybe not directly- as yet another incompetent, useless set of beliefs.

This is not an enjoyable film, nor is it easy to watch. It feels really long for 86 minutes and it desparately needs a restoration. What it does however, is it opens discussions with friends, it makes people think and of course it's a very influential, historically important cinematic piece.

Cinematic ambivalence defined. Transcendent.

[cameroj · 10/10 · 17 November 2003]

My first viewing of this film was in a freshman seminar here at the University of Michigan aptly called "Chinese Cinema." Immediately after the viewing, my professor left the room and the majority of the class let out a syncronized moan. "I believe that was the worst film we've seen this far," he said. Never could he have been more wrong.

After viewing the film again and taking extensive notes for a paper on the film's earth/ sky imagery, I can say in objectivity that Yellow Earth is a landmark of not only Chinese, but Worldwide cinema. To those who would pay close attention, the film is a piece of art that is inexhaustible in its symbolism and technique. The film's cinematographer, the now very famous director Zhang Yimou, gives each frame its proper condition to the story. Every shot is composed with detail and beauty. The story is inextricably steeped in allegory, each character placed remarkably in relation to the others and to the landscape around them. This composition and the wonderful editing make this film a great cinematic achievement.

The key to the movie's wonder, however, is its ambiguities and its ambivalences. All the editing patterns, the quick cuts and the long stretches, and the masterful composition are strands that are woven as the viewer wills them to be. The ways to interpret everything this movies gives us are endless. Speculation on the film is a task never ending. If you can understand this and cherish the wonder that this film creates through its ambivalence, Yellow Earth is a pleasure with few peers. I recommend that every person interested in Chinese Cinema and classics of all foreign cinema watch this at least once.

A good movie

[z-59713 · 6/10 · 26 April 2020]

It's just that no one found out about his real theme

Loess land is the real protagonist

He raised generations of people on the loess ground with his rich personal resources, but at the same time, he deeply bound the people above

He was treated with respect and sadness

Father Cuiqiao is the double of Huangtu. He raised Cuiqiao and married her at the same time

The same two sides as loess land

tears

[mdworak · 10/10 · 5 June 2000]

This movie is, to say the very least, a work of art. No other movie has ever evoked such emotional tears from my eyes as Yellow Earth. From the foreshadowing wedding ceremony, to the repetition in Cuigiao's own wedding, from distant silhouettes, to the ominous slow motion running of Hanhan during the ceremonial rain dance at the end, I have never felt the extent of sympathy for characters in a film as I have during and after viewing Yellow Earth. The folk songs reiterated the intensity of the sorrow through their text and solemn melodies. Ch'en Kaige beautifully crafted this film, bringing a little understanding of the plight of traditional China, and the revolutionary attempt to better their situation.

Harsh reality of life that cannot be redeem by anything

[zzmale · 10/10 · 24 November 2003]

including the communist ideology.

Great directorial work in describing the harsh conditions that not only resulted from unforgiving nature and political turmoil, but also from the burden of traditional Chinese culture, which is partly to blame for the political turmoils of post-revolution era. The film is one of the pioneers in the re examination of Chinese tradition and although it has not gone into detailed criticism like later films such as Bian Lian (Change Face) of later era, it was a good beginning.

Yellow earth

[Atavisten · 9/10 · 8 October 2005]

Not far from the yellow river there is a big area where the earth also is yellow and the climate and living are very harsh, this time because of a drought. First we see a wedding ceremony with the bride little more than 12 years old, a happy occasion for everyone except for the skeptical onlooking Cuiqiao whose fate will be similar in short time and the bride herself. Enter folk song collector comrade Gu who stays with her family for some time. His talk of whats going on in the south, the end of arranged weddings and equality of women sets a deep impression on Cuiqiao, but also her mute brother.

Much of the film is told in its folk songs and its pictures. Cuiqiaos misery is told with songs: "of all the people//girls are the most miserable" and her new hope with the songs of the Party.

The pictures leave much room for the environments to sink in. Distances are big and the landscape homogeneous, that is earth covered mountains and a wide yellow river. In a setting such as this, the figures get small, and even more so by the devotion Zhang Yimou gives to the vast sky.

Masterful cinematography and an OK story

[Vartiainen · 5/10 · 25 February 2012]

It's hard to talk about this movie beyond its cinematography and the artistry of its visuals. Not because there's nothing beyond those two, but rather because those two are just so unbelievably well-done that it's hard to concentrate on anything else. This is a movie that deserves to be seen on the big screen if that's in any way possible. Because if you manage to do so, you will be sucked in from the very first frame. The vastness of Shanbei's landscape is capture beautifully in this film and at some points I found myself totally ignoring the dialogue and what was going on with the characters in favour of just admiring the scenery.

Though that isn't really a compliment. As I said in the beginning, this movie has a cinematography that's almost too good. The story only barely manages to keep up, which is a shame, because it's not a bad story. I found myself liking these characters, their unique characteristics and their actors, who were all very talented and natural for their roles. And I kind of liked the music and all of the songs as well. The latter ones took some getting used to, as they were so very different from what I usually listen to, but they had their own charm and power of emotion going for them.

So I really liked this film. Is it a masterpiece? No, not really. Cinematography alone doesn't make a masterful movie, and while the story is good, it's not that good. Still, I'd definitely recommend this one to almost anyone. It's a bit slow and nothing much actually happens, but it's a powerful piece to witness.

For the Trivia Section

[rikkihon · 27 January 2005]

This movie is from the so called "5th Generation" of Chinese filmmakers. It demonstrates how the old way of life failed CuiQuo, but the communist, or new way, has also failed her. When CuiQuo drowns, she does so right after she sings the word "communist." This is to signify to viewers how Communism failed her family. There is also a significant use of rivers in the movie. The ending has a river of people, which drowns her brother, and the actual river, which drowns her. The use of a uniform is also used in the film, where we can see the solider beginning to lose pieces of his uniform as he becomes more accustomed to the family.

Peas are frikkin' round, a daughter's fate is frikkin' miserable.

[sc8031 · 9/10 · 17 July 2008]

Ugh, this is a hard movie to watch. It is both boring and depressing -- and yet really good! How crazy that it works out that way. Maybe because it's a little TOO close to the experience of real life. Here we have a film that's a window into the life of Cuiqiao, and her tiny family of peasants, in a north-western province of China during World War II.

The music is a motif and the main thematic element of the film, expressing the misery most eloquently. The plot sees a lowly Communist officer trying to catalog or find folk songs for the Communist foot-soldiers to sing as morale-boosters. The best singer in town is the shy and depressed Cuiqiao whose life is pitiable. I won't go into details, but it is depressing for reasons that are equally social and economic. The officer seems nice, but he seems like another pawn in a bigger power game -- a guy who really isn't so sure of his faith in the party beyond a means of escape. He's just another guy staying one step ahead of the virulent poverty the main characters suffer through.

Seriously, the stuff is really affecting and memorable. The funny scene or two in this movie is all the more smile-inducing because you're just so glad for the break in the bleak atmosphere. And the songs -- mein gott, what grating stuff to spoiled western ears, but simultaneously so gut-wrenching! I'd call this a period piece, but the experiences of rural western villagers in China are probably pretty timeless. I mean, the landscape is certainly changing, but there are a lot of places that are still like this.

Watch it, you spoiled punks!

A very fine and unusual movie!

[dmuel · 10/10 · 19 November 2016]

Yellow Earth is a rare film of exceptional caliber, a film that captures the brutal simplicity of traditional Chinese life in northern China. Directed by Chen Kaige with cinematography from Zhang Yimou, Yellow Earth tells the story of a village family visited by a communist soldier who has come to collect folk songs he hopes might motivate his fellow soldiers to fight the Japanese. You could definitely say this is an "art-house" movie, so if you are looking for high drama it's probably not your cup of tea. However, for the patient and attentive viewer, the emotional impact is powerful.

Chen Kaige manages to show us life in the village in a minimalist style, where the bare earth and mountains of north China provide a most unobtrusive background. A lone tree on the mountain is both an anomaly—there are no other trees in the landscape—and a symbol of the isolation of the individual in a society bound by tradition and codes which permit no variation. The young girl, Cuiqiao, hears the soldier's description of life in a modern, communist world, and dares to dream she might escape her fate in the village, where young women are given as brides to older men before they can fully know themselves, let alone aspire to a self-fulfilling life.

Dialogue and overt emotion are sparse in this film, while traditional folk music provides the chorus that foretells the fate of its characters. It is the contextual environment that provides us with the clues to the person's feelings. In this male-dominated society, the young girl sings a song that pleads for pity for the life of a woman. While the setting is north China circa 1937, the problem it depicts remained a vexing social concern in Chinese rural villages well into the 1990's.

Humanity's relationship to the land

[peng_uin · 9/10 · 25 July 2013]

I couldn't stop thinking about this movie for a long time after watching it. The sparseness of it haunted me- the plot, the dialogue, the land. The film shows you what it looks like to literally eke out a living. Life for the peasants of Shaanbei is about survival in its most primal sense- staving off hunger. Children exist solely to provide labor and as a form of currency, to be traded to other families through marriage. The peasants' existence is so stark that there is almost no need for language. The family rarely speaks to each other. However, though little is said, much is felt. The peasants express their laments through songs, the only way they know how. Yet, though songs can liberate Cuiqiao's feelings, they ultimately cannot free her from her bondage, as she notes in her last song. And, as the ceremonial rain ritual at the end reminds us, no one in the village can free themselves from their bondage to the earth. The vast, dry, timeless landscape dominates the frame in many shots; the people are helpless before it, as they have been since time immemorial. The earth is what drives them to look up toward heaven, as they do at the end of the film. An alternative direction is Communism, symbolized by Gu Qing standing on the horizon, whom Hanhan struggles toward against the current of the masses. Yet Gu Qing's figure disappears before Hanhan could get to him, and the camera ultimately points down and settles its view on the yellow earth. The power of the film owes much to its economical editing. On Cuiqiao's wedding day, we never see her getting onto the sedan chair, only her father picking up the empty straw seat Ciuqiao used to sit on after the wedding procession leaves. In her bridal chamber, we see the dark, arthritic hands of Cuiqiao's groom but never his face. The effect is all the more chilling and poignant.

The breakthrough film of the Chinese 5th generation of directors

[frankde-jong · 8/10 · 16 March 2024]

"Yellow earth" (1984) is the breakthrough film of the 5th generation of directors in China. This is the generation that had his film-education after the Cultural Revolution.

"Yellow earth" (1984) was the debut movie of Kaige Chen. Eight years later he would make his most well known movie with "Farewell my concubine" (1992).

Kaige Chen would however not become the leading figure of the 5th generation. This would be Zhang Yimou, who was cinematographer in "Yellow earth". He would make his debut as a director with "Red sorghum" in 1988. His film "Raise the red lantern" (1991) has certain similarities with "Yellow earth", both with respect to form (color red is very prominent in both films, although this is not reflected in the title of "Yellow earth") and to content (pre arranged marriages).

"Yellow earth" is about a soldier of the Communist liberation army that visits a rural area to collect folk songs. In so doing he meets a 14 year old girl on the brink of a pre arranged marriage.

The theme of the film is a young enlighted Communist liberation soldier that brings the truth to a backward area. This may seem moralistic and even propagandistic in Western eyes. But that may be a little hypocritical. Look at an American movie such as "In the heat of the night" (1967, Norman Jewison) in which an educated detective from the North brings the message of anti racism to the backward South. Is this less moralistic?

Some reviewers note that it is remarkable that the film had no problems with the Chinese censors. Given the propagandistic element in "Yellow earth" I found that hard to understand. Maybe these reviewers thought about the following. In the first place the film is situated around 1940 and maybe Chinese viewers may ask themselves how big the difference between the Chinese rural area of 1940 and 1984 really is? In the second place the words of the liberation soldier may be beautiful and politically correct, but what exactly is the benefit for the 14 year old girl?

Oddly enough the film made me think of two films of the Japanase master Kenji Mizoguchi. The drowning scene in the Yellow river made me think of "Sansho the Bailif" (1954) and the return of the liberation soldier at the end of the film of "Ugetsu monogatari" (1953).

Hang me but I hated it

[benoitlelievre · 1/10 · 13 February 2005]

There are so many things I hated about this movie that I don't know where to begin. Props first, Zhang Yimou is doing an awesome job behind the camera which, in my opinion saved it from total anonymity.

Yellow Earth, according to me is a very pretentious work of art. Chen Kaige has one immortal quote saying something like :"I don't care about the public, I do art"(sorry if it's not the exact words, I had the quote in french). That's wrong, that's terribly wrong. You can't do art without people to watch and appreciate it. That's what art is about. Art is about things being seen and appreciated. I appreciated Yimou's camera work, but everything else I hated. Poor acting, poor exploitation of a good idea, annoying Chinese traditional signing...and this damn Chinese obsession with doing nothing. It's like Kaige's characters were frozen up by Mao's broken promises. I know that was Kaige's idea to show that, but all in all it gave a pretty boring movie , targeted to a very slim audience. Word is that even the Chinese didn't liked it.

Film Review

[user-5-361267 · 19 May 2014]

Yellow Earth is a classic film, which reflects that the situation of peasant's life is in yellow earth. At the beginning of the film, with a folk, the screen shows audience the background of this movie, which is a soldier came to yellow earth for collecting folk. With the development of story, the viewer can find that the situation of local environment is poor and austere, their thought is conservative and antiquated, and local people is humane and ignorance. However, through the soldier's describing, you can make comparison between yellow earth and the South in thought, education and so on. Although these traditional rules and culture were the same before many years ago, with the development and changing of society, China was changing. However, local people still live in the primitive China, their life is poor, cannot get education and keep the old traditional custom.

In Yellow Earth, there are some details reflecting thought of Confucian. The girls must obey parents' order and have matchmaker making match, which is the traditional thought for marriage. For example, when the soldier told them that girls can own choose husband and marriage by themselves in South now and people claim loving in freedom, Cui Qiao's father cannot accept this thought. He still thinks that daughter's marriage need traditional rules. If not, he thinks that it is not good for the girl. It not only reflects that thought of Confucian, but also shows that local people' thought is antiquated, adamant and old- fashioned. In the film, although Cui Qiao's father knows that Cui Qiao is not willing to marriage, he cannot change mind and persuade Cui Qiao agree. Except for this, When the soldier asks Cui Qiao's father about his daughter's marriage, the man told him that couple do not need premarital feeling, which means they do not need love each other. This action and thought is like in the antiquity. At the antiquity, girls do not know who will be her husband and what his appearance is. And Cui Qiao's father says this marriage was confirmed when Cui Qiao was a child, which is another traditional culture.

Second, in the film, it reflects that the position of women is low and the position between man and woman is not the balance. Girls cannot choose husband and have liberal love. Except for this, generally, the man can be older than girl and the differential of age is big. Like Cui Qiao and her husband. The reason why Cui Qiao will marry with her husband is when she was a child, her home is poor, and, for his brother, her father agree this marriage. In the local place, it is the common phenomenon. However, this kind of marriage is cruel and cannot be accept for girls. In the film, the bride does not have smile including not only Cui Qiao but also the bride is at the beginning of the film. For marriage, girls are not satisfied but they have to accept for their family and themselves. At yellow earth, girls have only one way that is marriage. However, only one way is that they cannot decide and choose by themselves, which is dolorous.

Third, it is conflicted for local people to see yellow earth. In the film, a shot is Cui Qiao' father stand on yellow earth, he looks at sky and feel helpless, sad, because there is no rain for a long time. He told the soldier that no one want to farm in yellow earth because this sod is not suitable to farm, but they cannot give up yellow earth because they depend on this sod to live. This is a conflicted emotion. Local people know the problem of sod but they think this sod feed them, so they cannot give up yellow earth. And, Cui Qiao has the same conflicted emotion. She cannot accept her marriage but she cannot oppose for her brother and father, which reflects that she is a humane and dutiful daughter.

Except for these, through film, I find that local people have not good education at that place, so it causes that they are unknown and thought is antiquated. When the soldier wants to write a couplet, Cui Qiao refuses him because no one knows words. They cannot get education, it caused that their thought is antiquated and do not want to know new information and rules. They still keep to tradition. And in the film, there a lot of time having no dialogue. Local people are silence. They do not talk with others, only when they meet difficulty, they can sing a folk to say about the difficulty of their life. At the end of film, Cui Qiao wants to change her life, she try her best to find the new way. She wants to get freedom. So, she leaves her home, cut her hair and find to the Red Army by herself. It means the girl aspire to freedom.

Thus, I think that this film – Yellow earth is good film. It lets the viewer know that farmers' life in yellow earth at that time and a traditional custom.

This is one of those rare films that just speaks the language of my soul.

[thao · 10/10 · 13 January 2014]

This is a rather sad and melancholic Chinese musical sett in late 30s. A young communist soldier is sent to farmers near Yan'An (which is considered the origin of the cultural revolution) to collect folk songs for the party. The idea is to find happy songs they can use in their war and revolution. The problem is that the farmers only know suffering so all their songs are sad. But even if he does not bring anything back to the army he does leave behind new ideas of equality of the sexes and the right to choose your own spouse. These revolutionary ideas give hope to a young woman called Cuiqiao. The question is, is hope of any use to the oppressed?

The music is heavenly and the cinematography and the editing is very poetic. This is like a musical version of a Japanese film called The Naked Island (Kaneto Shindô: 1960). Quiet, meditative and full of compassion.

One could argue that the film is some what pro communist party but I do think the intention was to make it look like it was while at the same time delivering a very harsh criticism. SPOILERS! The film ends with a song about how communism is going to save the people but the fact is that the farmers are not much better off today and even less so back in the 80s when this film was made. Then consider the fact that something between 18 million to 45 million died in the Great Leap Forward, many of them farmers, and the last shot of the barren landscape while we listen to the promise of communism gets a new meaning. Cuiqiao's death is also quite fitting in the light of what would follow. END OF SPOILERS!

This film needs to get a proper DVD or preferably BLU RAY publication. It is one of the best and most beautiful film I have ever seen. As a musical it is simply revolutionary. The music does not only serve the story well, it elevates it, gives it a soul. And it is quite surprising how well it serves the dramatic theme of the film. Gone is the happy go lucky atmosphere of the classical Hollywood and Bollywood musicals and in stead we have a musical steeped in realism and poetic drama. You could say that this is a musical for people who hate musicals. In fact, I'm sure many who watched this did not even realize they were watching a musical.

Meh

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 29 November 2017]

A communist soldier is sent to a remote region of China in order to collect folk songs. Staying with a peasant family (a widower with two small children), he discovers a community whose way of life is completely alien to him, but he gradually wins their trust.

Richard James Havis, author of Changing the Face of Chinese Cinema: An Interview with Chen Kaige, said that the film was the first Chinese film "at least since the 1949 Communist Liberation, to tell a story through images rather than dialog." Therefore, the film attracted controversy in China. Havis added that the film "was also equivocal about the Communist Party's ability to help the peasants during the Communist revolution", a position which differed from that espoused by the propaganda films that were produced after 1949." I understand the importance of this film and can understand why it is so highly rated, but it really had no appeal for me. None. I had difficulty getting through it, to be honest. Maybe some time I would give it another chance, but it just seems to have so little plot and was full of odd singing that was not pleasant for the human ear.