Thursday, July 1, 2010

Review of Yellow Earth

Yellow Earth is the first work directed by Chen KaiGe, who is the leader of 5th directors in 1980s in China. The setting is China in 1939, and the CCP and the KMT have stop fighting one another and cooperate to overwhelm the invading Japanese army. In Shaanbei, Gu Qing walks along a bare Yellow Earth and writes down the peasants’ folk songs in order to re-write them with communist lyrics to boost the morale of CCP soldiers in Yan’an. I like this movie because it links natural geographic environment and local villager’s traditional culture to claim the idea that Chinese need to break feudalism and encourage teenagers to pursue happiness and love by their own.


Due to Gu Qing is called “Gong Jia Ren”, he is treated well by local peasants and assigned to live in a local peasant’s home while collecting songs. As soon as Gu Qing arrives at ShannBei, he realizes the hardships of peasants’ life. Chen KaiGe focuses the story on a girl named Cui Qiao, who is a 14-year-old and is enforce to marry a rich older man. Gu Qing feels surprised when he heard of the unequal marriage. He tells to Cui Qiao’s father “In Yan’an, young girls all begin to pursue their true love. Zhi Fu Wei Hun is abandoned by people.” So Cui Qiao fascinates to people’s new life outside ShannBei. She is eager to leave this poor, old and traditional village with Gu Qing so as to gain a free life.


The most significant feature this movie brings to me is the few amount of dialogues. Characters are using bulk of folk songs to express their though and emotion. In those songs, audience could understand the harsh living environment in ShaanBei. Everyday, Cui Qiao goes to yellow river to delivery dirty and sandy river water for drink. Moreover, her family eats only porridge and puts a fake fish on dinner table, which just feeds on people’s eyes rather than stomach. In the last scene, the entire villagers resemble together to perform a rain dance as the crops have dried up and died. Villagers deeply believe in food is given by God, which depicts Chinese peasants’ benighted and traditional in that period. Villagers are pure and hardworking; however, if they don’t get rid of the chains of royalty to traditional cultures, they never ever would improve living standards. Cui Qiao’s father is an old-minded man. Everything he asks for is feeding on stomach, however, he has no idea what a big change occurs outside the Yellow Earth. When Gu Qing persuades not marry Cui Qiao to an old man against her will, Cui Qiao’s father always responses “it is her fate”. Because her wedding dowry is used to pay for her mother’s funeral and brother’s engagement, a 14-year-old girl is deprived her rights to learn, to choose and to love.


Gu Qing left the village and returns to the army. Cui Qiao follows him and asks to leave with him. She wishes learning and freedom like other teenagers in the army. But person needs to get permission before joint in army, Gu Qing has to refuses Cui Qiao inquiry and promise to come back. As planed, Cui Qiao gets married to the old man eventually but she runs away and crosses the yellow rive at night to joint in the BaLuJun in other to end up her unhappy marriage. From then on, her fate is unknown.


Compared to the wedding of the beginning, Cui Qiao demonstrates her willing against feudalism. Chen KaiGe believes it is a time to teach new developed ideas to Chinese. This is why Gu Qing collects folk songs and re-writes them with new lyrics. If the entire society always stops in original culture and never accepts changes, there is no doubt that it will get behind. Yellow Earth is filmed in 1984 and Chen KaiGe puts his wishes to improve Chinese living standard. In 1989, Deng XiaoPing established open-door policy and then China begins to develop its economic growth. This long-history nation starts its gorgeous show-up in world stage till now.

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