XIU XIU: THE SENT-DOWN GIRL A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Towards the end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, there was a program to send "Educated Youth" into the countryside. Lasting almost a decade, this cultural indoctrination was, one assumes, supposed to purge any remaining remnants of bourgeois thought from these intellectuals. (This same class supplied the bulk of the protestors in the famous 1989 Tiananmen Square tragedy.)
XIU XIU: THE SENT DOWN GIRL (TIAN YU), which tells the story of one such educated youth, is actress Joan Chen's directorial debut. The threadbare script by Chen and Geling Yan is based on Yan's novel. When the camera has nothing else to do, it points itself to the sky giving us so many cloud sequences that the picture could just as aptly be titled THE CLOUDS.
The movie starts off promisingly. An educated girl named Xiu Xiu, who appears to be somewhere in age between an older teenager and a young adult, is sent to become a horse herder in a remote village. The lovely Chinese actress Lu Lu plays Xiu Xiu with an assured grace and a delicate style. In several scenes of heartfelt dialog the mother (Jie Gao) gives Xiu Xiu advice and goods to take with her. Noting the raw and inferior quality of toilet paper Xiu Xiu is likely to encounter, her mother has traded her sugar rations for a large supply of good quality toilet paper. (This "good" paper looks as rough as cheap paper towels in an American restroom.)
When we cut to the Educated Youths a year later, they are about to gather under a tent to watch propaganda movies in which brave youths fight and sing for the glory of Communism.
At this point we expect the depiction of Xiu Xiu's life to show it to be harsh and inhospitable. Instead Xiu Xiu looks more like a middle class girl on an extended camping trip. Chen stages scenes for maximum gloss and has Xiu Xiu made up to look glamorous. This works at cross proposes to what one assumes is Chen's intent.
A typical workday for Xiu Xiu finds her lying on her back in a lush field of colorful wildflowers. Dressed in middle-class raiment and looking like a million dollars, she idles away her time looking through her kaleidoscope.
Xiu Xiu lives in the middle of nowhere in a tent with Lao Jin (Lopsang), a gentle man who had "his manhood cut off" when he was held prisoner by Tibetan rebels. Their warm, platonic relationship will be tested when she brings a string of petty bureaucrats into the tent in an attempt to sleep her way back home.
The widely acclaimed TO LIVE, which covers much of the same ground, makes the tragic scenes as genuine as the joyful ones. Chen coats the traumatic moments with the same slick veneer she uses on the lighter ones, thus muting any effect they have on the audiences.
The film's actors give everything asked and more. And cinematographer Yue Lu makes the film too gorgeous for its own good. If you don't watch yourself, you'll be wishing they had inducted you. Chen makes living out under the wide and starry sky look pretty appealing.
When you leave, you'll undoubtedly think of the beautiful and tranquil Xiu Xiu with wildflowers dancing all around her. That will likely be the memory that remains, not her tragic moments.
XIU XIU: THE SENT DOWN GIRL runs 1:39. The film is in Mandarin with English subtitles. It is rated R for strong sexual content and some profanity and would be fine for older teenagers.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com
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