POETIC TRIBUTE TO FARMERS
A Chinese movie, based on the stories of villagers striving to get out of poverty, is gaining support at the box office. Xu Fan reports.
When director Miao Yue arrived in Shibadong village, the home of the Miao ethnic people in the mountains of Central China’s Hunan province, after a tiring journey, her fatigue was quickly forgotten thanks to the stunning views she encountered.
“It was dusk in August last year. The countryside was covered by fields of rice. The setting sun cast a tranquil and beautiful light that I have rarely seen,” she says.
As a veteran director with the Chengdu-based studio, Emei Film Co Ltd, she was assigned to find inspiration for the company’s new movie, Hold Your Hands.
Besides Emei, the producers also included the Changshabased Xiaoxiang Film Group Co Ltd and the Beijing-based Huaxia Film Distribution Co Ltd.
The movie, based on the stories of villagers striving to get out of poverty, opened across the Chinese mainland on Oct 13 and has gained 7 points out of 10 on the reviewing website Douban, a barometer of popularity.
The film, which is a tribute to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, reflects the transformation of Shibadong, once one of the nation’s poorest villages but now an example of the country’s achievements in poverty alleviation.
President Xi Jinping visited the village in 2013 and it was there that he proposed a new targeted poverty alleviation strategy, which stressed on helping the poor with tailored programs.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the annual per capita income in the village had risen from 1,668 yuan ($252) in 2013 to 8,313 yuan by 2016. And locals have been assisted by government officials to work in businesses, such as raising livestock, planting kiwi fruit trees and doing embroidery.
While the achievements seems impressive, the director, who is known for producing farmer-themed movies, wanted to dig deeper.
She deliberately avoided the village’s most-visited families, whose stories have been reported many times, but instead went to an area where there was less attention from media.
A wooden house on the edge of the village, home to an elderly couple and their 9-year-old mentally-disabled grandson, grabed her attention.
The boy developed problems when he was 1 year old as his parents — migrant workers in Shenzhen — failed to take him to hospital in time.
She was surprised to find the home neat and filled with joy, without any signs of the misfortune that has befallen the family.
But the grandmother gave a hint of the family’s worries when she told Miao: “If my boy lives to be 50, we will accompany him to live to 100 years old.”
She was worried about him. “At that moment I realized that poverty eradication had a more in-depth aspect,” the director says.
“It’s not merely about food and warm clothes. China has already resolved such problems for millions of poor farmers. But they need money to handle unexpected problems,” the director says.
After interviewing a number of locals, Miao, also the movie’s scriptwriter, wrote a story about a former soldierturned-farmer who leads his fellow villagers to pursue a better life.
The farmer, played by award-winning actor Wang Xueqi, is based on the grandfather.
Veteran actress Chen Jin, known for Feng Xiaogang’s 2010 movie Aftershock, plays a role based on the grandmother’s accounts.
The boy is presented as a 5-year-old girl in the movie.
Speaking about his role, Wang, known for playing the Peking Opera master Shisan Yan in Forever Enthralled (2008) and the patriotic tycoon Li Yutang in Bodyguards and Assassins (2009), says this is the first time he has played a farmer in his career spanning more than 30 years.
At a promotional event last week, Wang said he was enthralled by the picturesque scenery, the fresh food and the raw rural life during the filming.
“It’s a beautiful village full of emotional stories. The movie gave me an opportunity to learn about a life that I’ve never known,” he says.
The movie has so far earned nearly 10.5 million yuan at the box office, and won acclaim from critics and viewers.
While Sun Xianghui, head of the China Film Archive, says the movie is a poetic tribute to Chinese farmers, Hu Zhifeng, a professor from Beijing Normal University, says the movie depicts an optimistic spirit that resonates with audiences.
It’s a beautiful village full of emotional stories.” Wang Xueqi,