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Kathmandu Sunday November 26, 2000 Mangshir 11, 2057.
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Fifth Generation Chinese Films
By Trailokya Aryal
A few weeks ago, I read an announcement in a Nepali discussion board on the
Web (soc.culture.nepal) posted by Ashutosh Tiwari regarding the establishment of the
Kathmandu Film Archives (KFA). The KFA, Mr. Tiwari wrote, is a collaboration between
Martin Chautari and The Godavari Alumni Association (GAA) to show quality movies to a
Nepali audience twice every month. Most appropriately, the KFA was launched with a
"Fifth Generation" Chinese movie, Red Sorghum.
Movies produced in China after the end of the Cultural Revolution (1976) are
known as "Fifth Generation" Chinese movies because they represent a new school
of film compared to the Mao era in which movies were merely tools of state propaganda.
"Fifth Generation" Chinese movies not only give their viewers an insight into
Chinese politics, society and new cultural traits, but also have a high degree of
professionalism in them, which make them most sought after in the West.
Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, 1982 graduates of the prestigious Beijing Film
Academy, collaborated to produce the first fifth generation movie, Yellow Earth, in 1984,
which is still revered by movie critics as a milestone in Chinese movies. Yellow Earth is
a story of revolutionary era China. In it a soldier of the Eighth Route Army of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in his mission to collect folk songs, arrives in a village
which has been devastated by a terrible drought. His arrival brings hopes that he will
help villagers transform their village.
Depressed by what he sees and experiences, the soldier leaves the village
promising to come back later. He does come back, but finds the village is still the same,
and a girl who had initially hoped the soldier would help her exit her marriage and join
the CCP, has committed suicide by drowning herself in a river. The movie’s message
was crystal-clear. With China and the CCP symbolized by the barren village and the soldier
respectively, it implied that the CCP could not free the Chinese people from their
sufferings.
Yellow Earth became an instant hit in China and according to some Western
movie critics, Yellow Earth was responsible for reviving interest in Chinese movies in the
West.
Then in 1987 came, Red Sorghum by Zhang Yimou, who had worked as a cameraman
for Chen Kaige in "Yellow Earth". As a movie attempting to revive Chinese
nationalism, its underlying message was, if the Chinese people could unite and stand
against the Japanese invasion in the 30s, they could do it again in the 80’s against
the "problems" they were facing. This movie established Zhang as one of the most
talented filmmakers of China and also presented Gong Li, the most famous actress in China,
to the West.
After the Chen-Zhang split in the early nineties, Chen made Farewell my
Concubine, which some observers believe is his autobiography. Farewell my concubine was a
controversial movie because it depicted the homoerotic relationship between two male opera
singers and their relationship during the turning points of Chinese history such as the
revolution of 1949, the Cultural Revolution and the beginning of the reform era. Since,
this movie had dealt with a concept still taboo in Chinese society, the movie was first
banned in China but with its international recognition (the movie won awards in various
film festivals including the Cannes), a censored version of this movie was allowed to be
shown in China.
After the success of Farewell my Concubine Chen appeared fascinated with big
projects. His last release, The Emperor and the assassin is a story of the ambitious Qin
emperor Ying Zhen (3rd century BC) who hoped to unify China and establish a centralized
government. More than 11 million US dollars were spent in making this movie, making it the
most expensive Asian movie ever produced.
In the meanwhile, Zhang made movies like Raise The Red lantern and Judou.
Raise the Red Lantern dealt with polygamy in China. Juduo dealt with female sexuality.
Banned in China for it’s strong sexual content, the latter movie revealed the dangers
of suppressed female sexuality and attacked the rural tradition of arranged marriages in
which, for the most part, young girls were married to men twice their age.
Another Zhang film is The Story of Qiu Jiu, in which the protagonist of the
movie Qiu Jiu struggles to get justice for her husband who has been kicked in the groin by
the village chief. All she wants is a formal apology from the village chief who adamantly
refuses. Later, when the matter is getting resolved within the village, the police arrive
and take the village chief into custody. The underlying message of the movie was that
things get done in China but not necessarily what one wanted nor in the manner in which
one wanted it done. This movie too, received wide acclaim in the west for it’s story,
cinematography and Gong Li’s acting as Qiu Jiu. Not One Less is yet another movie by
Zhang Yimou to achieve international recognition. In this movie Zhang compares China to a
growing child who needs support from everyone to achieve success.
Tian Zhuanzhuang, another renowned Chinese film personality directed The Blue
Kite in the early 90’s. The Blue Kite took the political defiance of the fifth
generation Chinese movies to an even higher level. The central character of this movie is
Tietou whose parents fall victims to the CCP policies throughout the 50’s and 60s.
Boldly portraying the affect of the Anti-Rightists Campaign, the Great Leap Forward etc on
the lives of the common Chinese people, the movie was banned in China for its political
content and Tian was temporarily barred from making movies. However, the print of this
movie had already crossed the Chinese boundaries and was released in the US, where it
received wide acclaim from US film critics. The movie also received the best film award in
the Tokyo Film festival.
There are some fifth generation Chinese moviemakers who have made movies on
the problems of economic reforms perpetuated by Deng Xiaoping. One such movie is
Er’mo by Zhou Xiaowen. The protagonist of this movie, Er’mo, is a village woman
who wants to buy a bigger television than that of her neighbor. To earn money to buy her
dream TV set, she goes to the town to sell noodles where she is sexually exploited. The
movie shows the ugly aspect of consumerism and materialism haunting Chinese society and
the female sexual exploitation that takes place in the reform era.
The above-mentioned movies are just a few examples of the work of Chinese
fifth generation movie makers. For the most part they recreate the past to depict present
realities of Chinese society, using their creative and artistic talents to criticize the
government and it’s policies in a country where submission to the state has been the
norm for the last 2000 years.
Let’s hope that the recently established Kathmandu Film Archives (KFA)
will make these groundbreaking world-class movies accessible to a Nepali audience looking
for a refreshing alternative to the commercial junk being served to them through satellite
channels and Nepal Television.
(T.Aryal concentrated on Chinese studies in college in the US. Note: For
updates on future KFA movie-shows, please send a request to: chautari@mos.com.np)
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