Yellow Earth Review

Yellow Earth is an exquisite and unique jewel produced by one of the most renowned directors from the Fifth Generation of Chinese cinema and leader of this new artistic movement, Chen Kaige. This film, produced conjointly with Zhang Yimou as the cinematographer, is the first production from the new generation, which set Kaige’s distinctive and provoking essence in the filmmaking world. It could be also considered as a ground settler piece of art for his future biggest production, the highly praised and awards winner film Farewell My Concubine.

As many of Kaige’s works, Yellow Earth is developed around revolutionary themes during the historical era of Chairman Mao. Specifically, this movie takes place in 1939, during the time when Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintan joined forces to protect China against the Japanese. It is through this nationalistic sentiment that one of the main protagonists, Gu Qing, an Eighth Route Army soldier, is sent to collect peasants’ folk songs in the area of Shaanxi, located in northern China. These songs would be sung by the troops when marching towards the battlefield. They were supposed to be an encouragement to the soldiers because the lyrics would remind them about the reason they were fighting. However, ironically, we learn that most of the peasants’ folk songs are sad cries or happy cheers, depending on each person’s mood.

Gu Qing ends up living with a family that becomes also the main characters. Da Shu is the father, Cuiqiao the daughter, and Hanhan the son. They are humble people that live off the production of their arid land. It was the director’s intention to use music as a medium to express the feelings and desires of these characters in the film. What characterizes the movie the most and grabs Gu Qing’s attention, as also the viewer’s, is Cuiqiao’s beautiful and melancholic singing. The lyrics of her songs are cries of her suffering and pain from restraining herself from having a normal childhood and having to accept her fate at her young age, set by the community she lives in. As an oppressed woman in a male centered and poor society, she could only sing for no one to listen as a desperate cry for help without the intention to find any aid.

However, she finds hope from the ideologies of equality and renovation brought by the communist party. Her songs were not enough to escape from her sufferings of her restrained monotonous life anymore. Therefore, she strongly clutches to her dream of joining the army to fight for change and where she could find freedom to her cultural-binding traditions. She then decides to leave her village in search for this freedom. Nevertheless, in the last shot in the movie, Kaige leaves the viewer to finish the story by giving an ambiguous ending. The long shot of the dry landscape with a non-natural sound, which turns out to be Cuiqiao singing a folk song about the Party. The song, although is meant to praise the Party, still brings sadness to the viewer, not joy. Moreover, the unknown fate of the protagonist perfectly sustains the director’s possible message that joining the communist army might not have been the best decision.

It is clearly reflected in Kaige’s work the reaction that he has towards the changes and social improvements of the communist party in China. The extended collection of traditional music and folk songs in Yellow Earth expresses the director’s desire to increase the world’s awareness on Chinese culture. His nationalistic pride is a signature in the entire film shown by Chinese traditions. It is also through this music that he does not have a need for words, not even clear images, to convey feelings and to express his opinions about Mao’s regime.