Tian Yu (Xiu Xiu: The Send Down Girl)

Linda Linguvic said:

Filmed in China without the government's approval, this movie marks the directional debut of Joan Chen who starred in The Last Emperor and who has also been seen on American television. It is a sad and moving story of a young teenage girl during the cultural revolution.

Lu Lu is 15 in 1975 when she volunteers to be sent to the country in the sweep of patriotic fever and is sweeping the country. After a year she is sent on a special assignment: to learn horse herding in Tibet under the tutelage of an older man, Lopsang, who cannot function sexually because he had been castrated twenty years before. They share a dilapidated tent in a remote area of the grasslands of Tibet for what is supposed to be only a six month assignment. They learn to adjust to each other in spite of the fact that she is headstrong and a bit spoiled. He is good to her and a real affection develops between them. However, when the 6 months is up, she is abandoned by the government. The cultural revolution is breaking up and the project has been disbanded. A passing peddler then seduces her with promises of a travel visa, but he abandons her too and then there a series of men who visit her in her tent with empty promises.

Through all this, the audience watches the changes in the once-hopeful young girl and the silent concern of Lopsang. It soon becomes painfully clear that this movie will have a tragic conclusion. I understand this film has won some awards and I hope it wins more. It certainly deserves it. Great acting and characterization. Fine cinematography. And a deep and stark reality of the corruption of the Chinese government. Some parts were unclear though and it could have used better editing. And even though it was only 100 minutes long, it was much too slow for my taste. In spite of its strengths, it is not for everyone. It was too sad and painful. There's enough of that on the news right now.

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