红高粱 (1988)

This week I continued to watch a Chinese action film about the poet 李白 who is made into a vigilant reminiscent of Batman, and yet still did not finish the film. Today instead of working on my thesis, I watched a movie I have always been curious about.  I finally found a copy in Youtube except it does not have English nor Chinese subtitles (save for some folk songs in the movie) which is fine since I leveled up a lot after I vowed to be better at Mandarin upon seeing my low score in HSK level 6 exam. I did pass, but my heart is not happy with what I achieved. 

The film is about a woman named 九儿 (九 is homophone of 酒 which is also central to the story) who is being sent off to be married to an old man. Along the way, the entourage was blocked by a bandit who almost raped 九儿 had it not been for a worker who is referred to by the Main Narrator as "My Grandpa". This grandpa pounced on the bandit and initiated the attack that was eventually joined by his coworkers leading to the bandit's death. Later  on, grandpa will himself rape 九儿 although it is more like carrying her off in the fields of sorghum and it seems that whatever happened between them is consensual. The old man died suddenly and 九儿 assumes the role of boss of  the wine distillery with the help of an old worker Luohan. The men had a feast and folk songs are shown alongside rituals expressing pride of their own made red sorghum wine. Later on, 九儿 is kidnapped by a man named Sanpao who owns a butcher shop. He demands ransom and when 九儿 is freed, grandpa goes to Sanpao seeking revenge and calms down when Sanpao tells him he did not touch 九儿.

For a while, the distillery people lived in peace and 九儿 is seen to be happy with her young son who plays among the wine jars. Luohan leaves the distillery without a word and disappears as 九儿 chases after him. It turns out that he joined an anti-Japanese resistance and is later revealed to be caught alongside the bandit Sanpao. The Japanese round up the people of the distillery and cause terror, bringing with them the two prisoners. A butcher who works for Sanpao is praised and given money for his good work on skinning an animal and is later ordered to skin Sanpao alive which he refused and stabbed Sanpao instead to give his boss a quick death. Luohan is not as lucky as the other skinner obeyed the Japanese order because his life is under threat. The skinning alive of Luohan is witnessed by 九儿 and everyone. They vowed to avenge his death and in the end everyone dies except for the narrator's father (九儿's son) and grandpa.

This movie by Zhang Yimou seems to me to be an allegory of the struggles of the Chinese people. First is the emancipation from capitalism (death of the old leper). Then, the internal conflict seen in the bandit kidnapping 九儿, as well as the narrator's grandpa raping 九儿 (Chinese victimizing fellow Chinese). Third, is the terror wrought by the Japanese which made some Chinese turn to their own kind, but which also shows the nobility of the Chinese spirit to rise against foreign aggression. In all three, it is interesting that the female is seen as the ultimate victim who can temporarily achieve success but who will still ultimately die. There are so many things one can discuss with regards to this movie and it pretty much reminds me of the Filipino classic Oro Plata Mata which is disturbing to say the least. It should also be noted that Zhang Yimou is also the one behind another favorite wartime movie of mine: The Flowers of War.