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The Road Home (1999)

Zhang Yimou has been famous for using amateur actors in his films. This is also the case in The Road Home. When I got this film, I didn't know much about it. I only knew that it got an award (the silver bear) at the Berlinale in the year of 2000 and I always wanted to check out an Asian film that had no action in it.

The film starts with scenes shot in black & white. After many years middle aged business man Luo Yusheng retunrs to his home province Sanhetun, due to his father's death. His mother insists on fulfilling an old custom of carrying the corpse to his home village. It is certainly not an easy undertaking because her deceased husband was a controversial teacher always being in conflict with the party and its functionaries. Luo Yusheng however is determined to support his mother with her intention even against some oppositions.

In order for the viewer to understand this unfathomable custom Luo Yusheng tells us the story of his parents and it is being shown like a flashback. This is where the main part of the film begins. Everything turns into a colourful image. The viewer will understand that the present days without the presence of the teacher Luo Changyu are only days of darkness to Yusheng's mother Zhao Di. As soon as we are taken back to the story of Zhao Di and Changyu however, everything turns into a colourful world of happiness and blooming love.

When teacher Luo Changyu (Hao Zheng) arrives in the small village he gets the attention of the young Zhao Di (Zhang Ziyi). The school he would be teaching in was still not built so he helps with its construction. Women have to keep away as they are said to bring misfortune. Each house in the village is supposed to cook a meal which is then put on a table in front of the construction site for the hard working men to choose from. Zhao Di gest to hear that the teacher is always given the first bowl on the table and so she makes sure that her bowl is the very first on the table.

After the school is built up Zhao Di always passes it to get water from the fountain. It is the old fountain however which is further away than the new one, but she still uses the old one, so she can pass the school and listen to Changyu's voice of teaching the children. When she meets him outside the school then she tells him that he would be eating at their house tomorrow, knowing that each day it is another house's turn to cook a meal for him.

Zhao Di keeps on following Changyu and tries to use every chance to meet him. After school finishes Changyu accompanies his students home and Zhao Di waits for him aside the road on a hayfield located higher than the actual road, so she can see him coming from far away. In one scene she overpowers her shyness and decides to meet him on his way home with the children. When she passes him, they look at each other. He is looking with interest and she looks with shyness. It is a great moment and beautifully shot. Such scenes as described here are only the beginning of this melodramatic masterpiece. As the story progresses, we get to understand more and more why it is so important for the old Zhao Di to carry Changyu back to his home village.

The beauty of the film is not only covered with the simple, but remarkable storyline, but also with the way Yimou has shot the film. As the film takes place in two different times, it is very at first a bit strange to see the present time in black & white, as you would mostly see scenes set in the past shot in black & white. However, Yimou just defies this normality and lets the past appear wonderfully nice with all its colours. The story set in the past takes place in all of the four seasons. I have never seen them depicted as beautiful as here and when I saw them, I just wished I could live in that small village only for its beautiful landscapes. No matter if it is shown in summer or winter, it looks beautiful and this surely is due to Zhang Yimou's great directorial skills. I don't know, but this man seems to have a sixth sense for colours. Some kind of colour instinct. The slow-motion scenes in which we see the main character walking add to the whole beauty of the film and has to be experience to feel its power.

Since this has been Zhang Ziyi's first appearance in a film and all the other actors are unknown as well, this film comes across just so natural. You won't be seeing a hot-tempered Zhang Ziyi à la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Rush Hour 2. Her performance in The Road Home is so lovely, that you could fall in love with her right away. It is the perfect love and we are treated to it without any physical acts. You won't see them kissing or holding hands. Yet, you feel like longing for a similar story to happen to you.

Zhang Yimou has also been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. A lot of his sociocritical films have been banned from China. Hence, these elements don't seem to find a place in The Road Home at first sight. However, when we see that Changyu has to leave the village due to his political opinions, it is the government again that is reminded of how it can affect the life of many people.

The overwhelming soundtrack by San Bao, who also wrote the music for Yimou's Not One Less, fits the film just perfect and I feel that the film wouldn't be half as good as it is without the great soundtrack. I enjoyed it so much that I had to get my hands on it. I have looked for it on the internet and found it on Amazon.co.uk. Living in Germany, I had to import it. I certainly do not regret this purchase.

This film will not leave you without having shed tears if you are either in love, a mother or a son that loves his mother. It might be sad to a lot of other people as well, but since I have heard of people who weren't really moved that much by the film, it is hard for me to convince people that it will make them sob and so I tried to find out which groups of people would be moved. Definitely mothers that love their childs, childs that love their parents and people who fell in love not too long ago. If you can not find yourself in any of these categories, you should still make sure to watch this film if you get the time to. Make also sure not to watch it with friends and popcorn on the table. It certainly is not a popcorn movie. Look at it from all the sides you want. Storywise it can convince as well as the cinematic and artistic devices.

I was overwhelmed by this film and am still fascinated by it and hence it will always have a special place in my heart. Unlike films like Versus, Battle Royale or Bloodsport this is a film that I would watch once or twice in a year only. Why? Because it is not the kind of film you take advantage of to get your pleasure on a rainy day. This film should be watched quietly and with lots of attention. This way you won't be able to help yourself but just be facinated by it. It will stay in your mind just like it did in mine. The last time I watched this film was maybe half a year ago and I honestly didn't need to re-watch it in order to write this review.

Zhang Yimou about the film:

This is a film about love, about family and about the love between the members of a family. A simple village girl falls in love with a primary-school teacher, and their love story unfolds during a particularly difficult period in China's modern history. In the past, artists have tended to deal with this period in a rather serious and analytic way, but I prefer to use more poetic and romantic methods to tell this pure and simple love story. It was just this kind of true love which enabled us to survive such difficult periods in our past.

In the film, the elements of history and present-day reality are both grounded in the notion of study. At the same time, the story shows the attitude of country people towards learning - essentially, an attitude of respect and veneration. All of this brings to mind the ways that Chinese people have reacted to 'learning' at two particular moments in our modern history. The first of these was several decades ago. For purely political reasons, learning was cruelly devalued. Intellectuals suffered physical abuse and were made to 'disappear'. The second of these is today. Everyone now understands the principle that knowledge equals power, and yet so many of us are ultra-materialistic and obsessed with money. Learning is once again being devalued.

I want to use this film to take a fresh look at these fundamental issues in Chinese society and history.

Written on August 14th 2003

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