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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Superficialy Simple, Perhaps It's A Not-So-Hidden Allegory?, 19 Dec 2002
Set in the midst of China's Cultural Revolution in 1971, this debut from Sijie (who himself was sent to be reeducated from '71-'74) tells the story of two urban teenage boys who are sent to reeducation camp and the beautiful peasant seamstress they meet and become enamored of. Through a series of semi-adventures the boys end up with a secret cache of translated popular French novels (Balzac, Dumas, et al). As corrupting pieces of bourgeois culture they are dangerous totems to posses. However as tools to engineer mental escape from the mind-numbing rigors of manual labor, they are worth their weight in gold to the boys.One of the boys comes up with the notion that reading these sophisticated and thrilling stories to the seamstress will help improve and transform her beyond her humble roots. And it does, though not in the way that they (or the reader) may expect. On its surface it's a simple tale told in elegant and simple prose. If that were all there were to it, I'd dismiss it as so much fluff, however... there is too much symbolism involved to leave it at that. From the boy's assigned task of hauling pails of excrement up a hill, to the seamstresses encounter with a snake, there are many many indications of another level of meaning. One could make a good case that the one boy symbolizes China's late '90s headlong rush into embracing Western values, and the other boy is his complicit accomplice. Together they use their gift of gab to fill the uneducated peasant girl's head with visions of a world beyond her imagining, via the stories they tell based on the French novels. The one boy plays a game with her of tossing his glittering keychain (symbolic of the riches waiting back in the city) into the water, where she dives for it, scarring her hand in one attempt. But she doesn't learn her lesson, as the boy and temptation lead her to further suffering (she has an abortion). Finally, she is transformed and exhibits the true selfishness necessary to get ahead in the newly urbanizing China. That's just off the top of my head, but I think there's definitely something there, otherwise it's just a cute little story.
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DVD ~ Xun Zhou
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