ERMO
A film review by Rich Siegel
Copyright 1995 Rich Siegel
Keeping Up With the Joneses--Chinese Style.
ERMO is a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of the emerging middle-class in modern Chinese society. Ermo, the title character, is a product of Chinese economic free-market reforms. She's a self-employed noodle maker who also makes produce baskets on the side for extra income. She supports her lazy husband "Chief," a former village official, and her son Tiger through long hours of hard work. For her efforts, her family leads a modest but comfortable life.
Ermo's problem is that her next door neighbors--"Blindman," his wife and daughter--are doing even better. Blindman bought a truck which he uses as the basis of his successful hauling business. They're so successful, in fact, they own the neighborhood's only TV which makes their home the favorite hangout of the local kids, including Tiger. Ermo develops an intense jealousy of her neighbors; both for their TV and for the resourceful, hardworking "Blindman" who puts her own layabout husband to shame.
On a visit to a nearby city to sell her baskets, she sees something in a department store that, for her, represents the answer to her feelings of low self-esteem: a 29-inch color TV--bigger than the richest family in the county could afford. She determines that owning this TV will restore her feeling of self-worth and improve her standing in the community. She decides to devote all her efforts to acquiring this technological jewel despite the fact that she has little interest in watching television herself. In fact, she finds it quite bewildering. As she watches a store display of televisions she's amazed at how the foreigners on the imported programs can all speak Chinese. She even becomes concerned, while watching a foreign language program, that the TV has forgotten how to speak her native language.
Despite this, however, the TV becomes Ermo's obsession. She will go to any length to acquire it. She takes a restaurant job in the city, where she lives, during the week, in squalid barracks. She even sells her own blood to the local blood bank for extra cash. Every night she lays her money out on her bed and counts and sorts her bills, waiting for the day her new dream will be fulfilled.
ERMO shows us the jealousies, petty bickerings, and romantic intrigues common in middle-class life. Although these situations are dealt with in countless films, seeing them in the context of a rapidly changing culture gives them new life. Director Zihou Xiawen uses a decidedly light touch to point out the darker side of capitalism. Even with its tragic elements, the film is good-humored and vibrant. Despite their flaws, most of the characters have an underlying goodness and honesty about them that makes it easy to sympathize with their attempt to come to terms with a changing value system.
ERMO features Ailiya, Zhang Haiyan, Liu Peiqui and Ge Zhijun. Screenplay by Xu Baoqi and Lang Yun from a novella by Xu Baoqui Produced by Ocean Film Co. Distributed by Arrow Entertainment
Screened at: The Portland International Film Festival Portland, OR.
Rich Siegel 2/19/95 siegelr@teleport.com
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