XIU XIU: THE SENT DOWN GIRL
A Film Review by Brian Takeshita
Rating: *** out of ****
In the late '60's and early '70's, the Chinese government embarked upon a program intended to close the differences between people from the city and people from the country. In typical communist fashion, the program involved forcing high school age boys and girls away from their families in the urban areas and out into the rural areas where they learned trades such as farming and animal husbandry. Joan Chen's XIU XIU is about the experiences of one such young girl.
Xiu Xiu is a girl who seems eager to take on new challenges. Although she knows she will leave her family and boyfriend behind to learn the ways of the countryside, Xiu Xiu would rather look forward to her destination rather than fret over what she will miss. Trucked away from the city, Xiu Xiu is initially placed in a commune with plenty of girls her own age, and actually enjoys the new experiences such as horseback riding and outdoor movie shows on Saturday nights. Her enthusiasm and independence is evidenced when she stands up to a loud-mouthed young man in the middle of a crowd of others. However, for all her spunk, Xiu Xiu is still basically an untainted young girl, and just as her exposure to another way of life strips her of her ignorance of the country, so do her experiences there strip her of her innocence.
The administrator for the program headquarters decides that Xiu Xiu will leave the commune and learn horse herding from Lao Jin (Lopsang), a nomad who was supposedly castrated while taken prisoner during the Tibetan war. Upon her arrival at Lao Jin's campsite, Xiu Xiu is appalled that they must share a single tent that affords little privacy, but soon learns that Lao Jin is a most benign fellow in spite of his gruff exterior. Chen's screenplay, based upon a novel by Geling Yan, is fairly sparse with dialog, yet manages to establish a believable and meaningful relationship between Xiu Xiu and Lao Jin in a relatively short amount of time. Later, when Xiu Xiu learns that there are a limited number of permits allowing return to the city, we can nearly empathize with her plight and tangibly notice the film's mood change from one of discovery to one of descent. I must attribute much of the credit to Chen's surprisingly impressive directorial talent (this is her first time behind the camera), and to the abilities of the actors, who are able to convey a lot of emotion without saying a word.
Another non-verbal mode of communication is employed by Chen in showing the passage of time. I really enjoyed the way Chen chooses to give us cues such as the increasing length of Xiu Xiu's hair and the diminishing supply of toilet paper that her mother packed for her at the beginning of her journey. I appreciated the fact that Chen trusts that her audience will have the visual acuity to notice these semi-subtle clues.
XIU XIU is wonderfully rich in symbolism and complexity, and I must admit it took me a full day after viewing this film for some of the more hidden statements to surface in my mind. The transformation of Xiu Xiu as a person is handled delicately and competently, so there is a lot to look for in terms of deeper meaning. Take, for example, the way influential government workers come to visit Xiu Xiu in the countryside, preying upon a girl who is so desperate to get back to the city that she will do anything. The first arrives via ox and cart, the next by motorcycle, and the one after that by jeep, each a progressively closer symbol of urban lifestyle. With each visitor, then, Xiu Xiu gets closer to home, but also gets closer to what is the opposite of nature and the innocence that it represents.
However, XIU XIU is more than just a film about the loss of innocence. It is also a political statement aimed at the corrupt and hypocritical Chinese government. The very nature of the film's subject matter speaks volumes of Chen and Yan's attitude toward a system which allowed the abandonment of many of its young citizens to unfamiliar lands and lifestyles. Notice how Xiu Xiu's predicament is created because there are fewer permits to return to the city than there are girls who have been moved out, and the only way out of this situation is to submit to the unscrupulous employees of the system which begat the problem in the first place. XIU XIU was actually banned in China due to sexual and political content, but I believe the reasoning had more to do with how the government is portrayed than anything of a sexual nature.
One of the drawbacks to this film is the inclusion of a narration at the beginning and end by the boyfriend Xiu Xiu left behind. Although it works as set-up for the film, it's intrusiveness at the end spoils a climax up to which the film had worked so diligently. Some of the camerawork during exciting scenes is also a little too frenetic for my tastes, but I've seen more of the same in examples of Chinese cinema, so perhaps it's just a style of which I'm not fully appreciative. Additionally, I had a problem with some of the music, most notably a recurring thematic melody which I found grating rather than haunting.
Overall, however, XIU XIU is a film worth seeing, and quite an accomplishment as Joan Chen's directorial debut. Just be sure to pay attention, and you'll have something to think about for a few days afterward.
Review posted June 9, 1999
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