COMING HOME (aka GUI LAI) (CHINESE) (2014)

What is a home ? Is it just four walls under a roof that provide shelter to a family ? Or.. Is it the sense of belonging that every member of a family holds toward each other and to the family as a whole ..? Indeed, it is the confluence of souls that find solace and succour in one another, especially when they wade through turbid tides of troubled times. Noted director Zhang Yimou's Coming Home explores this theme in a family drama set in the tumultuous era of Chinese cultural revolution (1966-76).

It recounts the story of a small Chinese family of Professor Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming), his wife Feng Wan Yu (Gong Li) and their daughter - Dandan (Hang Huiwen). Early in the movie, at the height of cultural revolution, we find this  family is thrown into disarray when Professor Lu is forcibly separated from his wife and infant daughter on being accused of anti-national activities. He is one among the  millions who are incarcerated and relegated to a labour camp for a long sentence. Several years pass by as we see that, under the watchful glare of the state which is wary of Lu's status of an anti-national, Feng is struggling to make ends meet as a teacher even as Dandan, a student at the ballet academy, is struggling in her own way to land a part of lead in a prestigious stage show. When Lu makes a desperate attempt to flee his captors and reunite with his family, Feng is having a difficult dilemma between rejoicing his escape, being wary of Dandan who barely remembers him and sees him merely as the source of their miserable status and the state which puts them under a microscope to recapture him if he contacts them. Ultimately, when he does return home, he is quickly pounced upon by the state authorities who were tipped off by Dandan on the hope that such loyalty would help her secure that coveted part in the show. Fate plays a cruel trick as soon after the arrest, Dandan is spurned for that role as she is still seen as the daughter of an outlaw and her mother shuts her out for what she sees an unforgivable betrayal. Some years later, when Lu is released after the Cultural Revolution, he returns to find his family shattered as his wife is suffering from an amnesia and his daughter is forced to eke out a living as a textile worker. Feng is unable to recognise Lu as her husband and she continues to wait for him to return from incarceration. The rest of the movie narrates the attempts of Yu to rebuild his family and reconnect to his wife.

Yimou's narrative is subtle, yet profound in observations. It is indeed a travesty when you require an official letter to recognise somebody who is your own. And, at times, even that is not proof enough. Feng's loss of memory is perhaps, her pathetic, final attempt to shut out a State that seeks to seep down and intrude into every element of her existence to enforce a compliance to its prescribed code of conduct. 

Through the prism of this family, the director showcases how an authoritarian state can appropriate one's life so ruthlessly that the citizens remain helpless and mute spectator as their life and family get trampled over by the giant wheels of a State machinery which pulls its entire citizenry in a particular direction to a predetermined destination. The instruments of the state intrude into every sphere of their life to suffocate them off any meaningful independence in exercise of their choices and where the individuals and their every aspiration is subordinated to the professed Party line and jingoistic nationalism.

The movie is anchored by stellar performances from the three leads - a spellbinding Gong Li and equally spectacular performances by Chen & Zhang who portray the multiple nuances of their roles effectively. Yimou's movie is ultimately a tale of triumph of the human spirit and the endless love it is capable of as well as the phenomenal power of such love to emancipate, enliven, energize and create beauty from bleakest of circumstances. 

The poignant, multi-layered movie replete with metaphors which premiered in Cannes in 2014 has won several accolades at several film festivals across the world.

AN EXCELLENT WATCH !!

RATING - 4/5

LITTLE RED FLOWERS (KAN SHANG QU HEN MEI) (CHINESE) (2006)

The movie begins with a cute four year old boy - Fan Qiang Qiang - being admitted by his father in a boarding kindergarten since both the parents are working at different places and are not in a position to care for him. 

The kindergaten is strict in enforcing discipline and expects all students to comply with a set of regulations which extend to an extensive gamut of activities from dressing/undressing by oneself, cleanliness, cordial communciaton to others, respect to elders, maintaining order and even to timely pooping (not to forget the washing of hands thereafter). Every successful compliance by the students is rewarded  with the titular little red flower which are diplayed on a scoreboard against their names and any subversion results in forfeit of a flower earned earlier.

Qiang is a free spirit by nature and finds it difficult to comply with the strict routines of the school. He is unable to dress/undress himself and does not play with other children. He is also unable to get over the habit of wetting his bed which results in him being ridiculed as "the king of bedwetting" by other students. Consequently, he is unable to earn any little red flower which is so coveted. When his repeated attempts to conform and fit into his desginated role & behaviour fail, Qiang feels enormous frustration which pushes him down the road of being an aggressive rebel. The rest of the movie narrates how this conflict between a rebellious Qiang and the disciplinarian kindergarten unfolds.

This is a simple movie which, on the face of it, successfully captures the lives of the tiny tots in a rich canvas sparkling with laughter, fun, frolic, tensions, frustrations, helplesness, sadness as experienced by these cute little toddlers.  At a deeper and not-so-subtle level, this movie represents a metaphor for the state of Chinese society under the Communist regime. It portrays the simmering conflict in the society between the innate tendency of every citizen to seek to establish their individuality and the efforts of a seemingly kind, yet oppressive state, which tries to micro-monitor as well as manage the affairs of individuals, through a defined regimen, for what it feels is for a loftier goal of collective order and resultant peace. In the process, any expressions of individuality are construed as a subversion of the carefully engineered public order and is brutally subjugated & crushed.

Through the struggles of his charming little protaganist, Qiang, the director, Zhang Yuan, has successfully captured this continuing conflict between conformity and individuality which permeats the Chinese society. He must also be commended for eliciting such authentic and believable performances (if one can call them so, for they appear so natural) from his cute little cast, especially the adorable and expressive Dong Bowen who plays the young Qiang.

The open-ended finale of the movie is apt for it throws several unanswered questions at the protaganist as well as the viewer and initaites a train of thought on the central conflict portrayed in the movie.

Clocking just about ninety minutes, this movie is short, subtle, highly engaging and raises several questions for the viewer on the merits of conformity, group mentality, need for individuality, the conflict between a society steeped on confirmity & group mentality when faced with expressions of individual freedom as well as the effects of such conflicts on individual members of such society.

A VERY GOOD WATCH !!

P.S. - You can catch this gem on UTV WORLD MOVIES channel which airs it frequently !