| Through the eyes of little Sang (Cao Dan), a naughty 11 year old who gets in trouble most of the time and subsequently punished by his father the school principal (Du Yuan), director Xu Geng takes a whole lot of little tangents of life but manages to turn them into a coherent whole eventually. While set during the cultural revolution of the 60s, Xu rarely takes his view away from the village homes and school, choosing rightly to focus of the life lessons of Sang. He gets subjected to the backlashes of punishment and disease that logically is what makes a stronger, wiser human and while it's sounds awfully simplistic, it's a technique Chinese filmmakers have utilized successfully within their beautiful landscapes before. The tone can at times be a little overbearing on a melodramatic and symbolic level but Xu proves to be a fairly skilled conveyer overall. It's just not up there in the higher division where the likes of Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou or even Huo Jianqi (Postmen In The Mountains) resides.
The original author of the novel, Cao Wenxuan also wrote the script, a work that took home the corresponding Chinese Golden Rooster award in 1999. Actor Du Yuan was also honored as well as the movie in the Best Picture For Children-category. |
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