Fili’s world

In a wonderful course titled "Modern Society in Urban China" with Mr. Dror Kochan we were asked to watch two movies out of a list given which deal with urban life in China and write a short review relating to the course’s material and the issues discussed. I thought the list was so good, that I actually saw alot more than two, and so I think it’s worth posting the list and the two reviews here, should there be anybody interested in reading and maybe watching those movies. Here’s the movie list followed by me reviews of Happy Times and Beijing Bicycle :

Documentary films

• China in the Red (2004) ; Director: Sue Williams ; Duration: 120 min; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/red/
• East Palace, West Palace (1996) ; Director: Zhang Yuan ; Duration: 90 Min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0119007/
• The Concrete Revolution (2004) – Documentary ; Director: Guo Xiaolu ; Duration: 62 Min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0437934/
• Swing in Beijing (2000) – Documentary ; Director: Wang Shuibo ; Duration: 73 Min ; http://www.trif.com/new2001/swing2.html
• Gate of Heavenly Peace (1995) – Documentary ; Director: Camera Hinton ; Duration: 180 min; Subtitles: English ;http://imdb.com/title/tt0113147/

Drama films

• Unknown Pleasure (2002) ;Director: Jia Zhangke ; Duration: 113 min ;http://imdb.com/title/tt0318025/
• Xiao Wu (1997) ; Director: Jia Zhangke ; Duration: 105 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0144020/
• On The Beat (1995) ; Director: Ning Ying ; Duration: 102 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0113825/
• Call Me (2001) ; Director: Ah Nian ; Duration: 87 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0278489/
• I Love Beijing (2000) ;Director: Ning Ying ; Duration: 97 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0277444/
• Suzhou River (2000) ; Director: Lou Ye ; Duration: 83 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0234837/
• Shower (1999) ; Director: Yang Zhang ; Duration: 92 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0215369/
• So Close to Paradise (1998) ; Director: Wang Xiaoshuai ; Duration: 93 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0200486/
• Frozen (1995) ; Director: Wang Xiaoshuai ;  Duration: 99 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0125279/
• Beijing Bicycle (2000) ; Director: Wang Xiaoshuai ;  Duration: 113 min ; http://imdb.com/title/tt0276501/
• Happy Times (2000) ; Director: Zhang Yimou ; Duration: 102 min ;http://imdb.com/title/tt0303243/

-

Happy Times (2000) review

The movie deals with the harsh reality of common life in urban China which I believe includes a statement about China’s society, people and culture. Taking place in an unknown city, old Zhao is trying to get married and so he promises an abusive unattractive woman a deception of being a high-class hotel owner despite the fact that he’s a poor penniless pensioner. Zhao is so caught up in maintaining his web of lies that he agrees to take care of the woman’s step daughter – Ying - who’s a blind quiet girl and a burden to the woman. The woman gets rid of Zhao and Zhao is left to take care of Ying, attempting to carry on the show to keep her hopes for finding her father and a cure for her eyesight. Zhao, together with his friends, make use of the little that they have in order to try and create a fantasy world of a hotel massage room with rich clients in an empty old factory with the friends acting as the guests.

Zhao and his friends’ lives are not easy, as they struggle through the contrast between what they want which seems available around them and what they can actually afford. Zhao and his friends dream of having the money in order to find a good wife and lead a comfortable life but everywhere they turn there’s the money obstacle. There is a work unit, or a social group, that they belong to, to whom they can turn to ask for conditions or a small loan, but even those are quite limited. Generally, it seems that the society around – represented by the woman — judges a person on the basis of his financials alone and that there is a constant thrive for achieving more and being more but without the ability to perform. Ying’s life is even more difficult, almost impossible as she’s a handicapped person in a society that leaves no room for disabilities. Ying is totally dependent on the kindness of others, and is abused by her step-mother for years, only dreaming to reunite with her father who promised to go get richer and come back to fix her eyes. Ying is in a state of constant depression, at the verge of suicide, so being transferred to Zhao’s care has brought her some new hope and “Happy times”. It seems that being blind in China is a very severe handicap, and the movie shows her inconvenience and struggles as she fights to be normal. Adding the fact that she’s practically an orphan with no mom and a dad who immigrated to a bigger city in search for wealth, makes her misery and reliance on others complete. The health system, which provides the possibility of a cure, costs money. The question of how to get that money is made in connection of the sacrifice a parent makes towards the child by immigrating. There is no healthcare, there is no social support the disabled, and there aren’t many opportunities for the uneducated poor to make money.

One of the scenes in the movie that portraits the difficulties and the social gap between Zhao and Ying’s class and the life around them is when Zhao takes Ying to spend their fake money buying ice-cream. The ice-cream is a symbol mentioned before when the step-mother shows as if she’s giving Ying ice-cream but eventually takes it away with her son saying that ice-cream is too expensive to be spent on Ying. Zhao promises Ying ice-cream but when he goes to the local ice-cream shop and asks for the price he finds that a single scoop costs an unbelievable high sum of money for him. He then goes to a street-stand and finally buys a cheap ice-pop for Ying. That’s when they bond and connect with the final shot of the scene showing the two in the middle of a busy street having their small little world.

I’ve read in some forum somebody writing how he perceived the movie through an allegory. Zhao as a representation of China and Ying as representing the people. Zhao tries to make everything work, being preoccupied with his self-pride, trying to keep the show running and not being able to let go of the charade, while Ying is a totally naïve vulnerable girl who plays along with the fantasy. When it comes to a breaking point, Zhao finds that he can no longer maintain the fantasy world, having run out of resources, and Ying decides that she can no longer play along and goes out to seek her own path. China and the people are each going through their own struggle of self definition, trying to define the right interaction between them. The concept of society, justice, care and responsibility are being defined by the dynamics between the changing China and the people trying to adapt and grow on their own.

I liked the movie very much. As it usually is with movies about everyday life in China, I was completely touched and sympathetic towards the characters, wanting to head over there so I can meet the characters and take a significant role in their lives. China, through this movie, conveys a combination of both hardships and beauty, and sometimes makes me question my own reality. A simple, real and direct movie, the way movies should be.

-

Beijing Bicycle (2000) review

“17 year old’s bicyle” (Shi2qi1 sui4 de danche1) tells the story of two boys at age seventeen – Guo and Jian - and the contrast and relations between their lives in the big city of Beijing. Guo is an immigrant who came to the city from the rural areas of China, trying his best to make do and survive. Jian is a high-school student who lives with his father and step-family, hangs out with his friends and courts a young girl.

Guo experiences Beijing through his low social class and his countryside background, which in his dialogs with his friend is portrayed as being disconnected from the rest of the city people. Guo is extremely pleased to get a job as a delivery boy and have his own bike, a job described by his friend as “maybe the best job one could ever hope to have”. They both seem to feel inferior and alien to the people of the city, watching their surroundings with disbelief, trying to hide their former identity, not daring to dream or fantasize of anything better. From the perspective of their social class, they don’t understand the middle class and they accept the fact that they might never achieve a better existence. For Guo, the bicycle means his freedom, self improvement and security, and that’s why he cares for it dearly.

Jian is preoccupied with his highschool life, where having a bike is a symbol for status and power that enables him to be part of the group and go after the girl that he likes. He goes to school everyday, spends time playing around with his friends in videogames and bikes, and goes home to his father and a step-family which he doesn’t like. His dream is having his own bike, a dream that has him steal the family’s money, steal or buy a stolen bike, and continuously abuse other people for.

Guo goes through endless humiliations in the big city, with one tragedy following the other, as people he encounters take advantage of his misfortune. His workplace reduces his pay for missing money for no reason, the bath-house girl wants to make him pay for a shower she directed him to by mistake and which he didn’t want to have, and his bike gets stolen meanwhile which makes him lose his job. In that long scene, Guo’s humiliation and hopelessness are overwhelming, as he looks completely confused and hopeless, being forced to an impossible situation in which there is nothing he can do, not even escape. His encounter with the higher classes of Beijing is horrifying, and once again described wonderfully by his friend when discussing the music in the toilets at the hotels with something like “It was so strange that I just couldn’t piss”. The move from the country to the big city confronts and changes his entire perception of the world around.

Looking for his bike, Guo’s endless stubbornness leads him to finding it again, but he’s then faced with Jian and his gang who are unwilling to let go of the bike. A series of clashes between Guo and Jian and his gang is left at a tie, Guo will not let go of his possession ,and Jian will not let go of his pride. Guo steals the bike back, Jian and the gang find him and take the bike back after beating him, Guo goes to Jian’s father to complain, Jian and the gang try again. Their situation is the perfect allegory for class-struggle and the tension between urban and rural life in China. As a solution, they are forced to share their asset, a situation uncomfortable for them both, and when in the final scene Jian finally gives up his bike after his revenge on a lost love, Jian gets Guo involved in his personal fight which leaves them both bleeding and hurting at the end and the bike completely destroyed. Just when things seem to work out, something even worse happens. It’s a strong statement about life in China and China’s future.

It’s a sad story that left me feeling hopeless and somewhat depressed. Beijing never looked so complicated and impossible, both apathic and judgmental of its citizens, so full of contrasts and struggles between social ranks, origin and generations. For a few times it raised hope and then killed it on the spot, and yet you’re left hoping that there’s still another chance. It’s a good movie, no doubt.