Hibiscus Town

A film filled with 3 (or 4) dimensional human beings undergoing pressures from life, from politics, and from internal drives. Beautifully developed, showing transformation of all the major characters.

A small town or village is shown before the Cultural Revolution hits them. There is love, romance, and small business operations, well-portrayed.

Then new characters show up representing the national and provincial leadership. They too act out their own needs in this societal context.

Finally, after the "Cultural Revolution" has passed, the characters resume their lives, but much has changed--and some things never change.

The film I selected was Hibiscus Town which was released on the middle of 1980s. It is directed by Xie Jin who is one of the best famous directors of the third generation in China. According to his personally experienced the period of culture revolution, he can straightly reveal and sharply comment the history. Furthermore, deep and dignified humanistic care is the most important characteristic of his movies. Overall, I feel the film was trying to highlight the criticism and introspection about the culture revolution because the powerful force of community that envelope the individual thought. From the movie, I realize the universal moral about breaking the social restriction and living for freedom and hope.

Firstly, the movie totally emphasizes the changeability of fate of different people who lived in a small town though the special time of culture revolution. By showing the distorted humanity of people during this darkest period ever in Chinese history, it brought up the introspections of extreme thoughts. Secondly, from the surface of the movie, it seems to represent a story of a widow's political rehabilitation. In the story, the director designed a significant street as the key role of the whole story with his intelligence. Using the green flag street as the center field, he put the part of a widow's bitter experience into a representative group of people which is particularly prominent the moral of the story. Every character is closely interconnected to each other with the development of the story. And the mostly important aspect that those special types of characters are composed a small society. Meanwhile, the director Xie Jin had achieved his goal to present the turbulent times in China though the small society in Hibiscus town. Overall, the twisting plot holds together through to the surprising climax and there is genuine tension throughout the movie.

From the movie, there is a miraculously special person named Qin Shutian which had advanced thought at the beginning of the 20th century. The wisest man often seems foolish and keeps silent but he exalted Nietzsche's rebellious spirit and loved the eternal creativity of life. However, due to this, he had become quite a bit separated from the social environment and finally he was suppressed in the bottom of society. Even so, he optimistically accepted reactionaries' criticisms and expressed his feeling with great courage. For example, when Qin Shutian and his wife fell into difficulty, he still asked his wife to live because of it was not easy to live at that time. As he said, no matter how hard the life, live like animals. He chose self-preservation to keep the conscience, happiness and the hope of life. On the other hand, his wife Yu Ying is a typical oriental woman with hardworking character and beautiful appearance. However, as a result of her beauty and good popularity with different kinds of people, she was basely slandered by some people act out of jealousy, especially a powerful woman. At that special time, there were little normal disciplines and human kindness in the political environment. Therefore, more and more people became crazy and addicted to play politics frame other persons, which means, if a person controls the power, he can do whatever he wants during that time. There were a lot of people failed in life because of the politic madness. For example, Yu Ying had been denounced because she was a rich woman and good personal relationship with some leaders on the town. According to Qin Shutian and Yu Ying's unfair suffering, this movie real reflects the darkness of the society at the time of culture revolution.

In my point of view, Hibiscus Town is a masterpiece condemning the evilness of the humanity in China. In these chaotic times, thousands of people cannot see ahead in the sightless society. Furthermore, the event of culture revolution without any recognizable goal in the political struggle and there is no explanation of the human malicious persecution in everywhere of China. As an example, in Hibiscus town, some senior cadres illegal used their rights to persecute the person they do not like. But no one can resist the unfair treatment because they fear and lack of power to over it. It seems difficult to control their own life while can easily destroy other people's life. Therefore, more and more people had no choice to distort their soul and surrender self- preservation during the darkest period. From the movie, I can realize that even that kind of social background brings much painful impact on human beings, but it does not able to control people's hope. Among the valuable perspectives on the research of culture revolution, it can be useful to study and draw experience to promote political development in China nowadays. Also, I believe that life is worth living and the belief will help to create the future.

This film caused quite a stir in China when it was first released. The hardline conservative commies opposed the release of this film and the pressure was so great that at the beginning, even the then paramount leader of China, Deng Xiao-ping could not prevent it from being banned.

When the order of banning came, the tickets for release was already sold and audience was enraged. Those conservative hardline commies, themselves were victims of Cultural Revolution, did not have the guts to face the angry public and it had to be the director, Mr. Jin Xie, came under public rage to apologize for the banning.

The film truely touched the nerves of commies, not only for what was infront of the camera, but also what was behind the scene, namely, its proposed releasing and banning. Those hardline commies who were once the victims of Cultural Revolution were in power after the end of that political movement, and as any dictators, once in power, no challenge could be and should be allowed, even if something describing the suffering themselves had experienced and detested.

It was a huge success when the ban was forced to be lifted, and the there was also a radio show based on the novel of the same name, which the film is based on. The small step forward in history seemed rather insignificant for people live in west, where liberty and democracy is taken for granted, but it was a landmark for those who lived under totalitarian rule. What happened when this film first released in China is the vivid example of greatness of this film, not only for what was infront camera, but also what happened behind the scene.

This is one of those film that makes it right through your heart. I saw this mowie a couple of years ago on tv, and since I have not been able to forget it.

The scene is a distant village in rural China, the time is the cultural revolution. Politics, local power-struggles,love and humiliation goes hand in hand and no person in the end of the film is the person in the start.

Absolutely an amazing film about a difficult subject. But everything the director/writer does succeeds. This movie does it all without doing a big fuss about it. It just works. See it if you can, but I have never found it on video anywhere. Not in China, not on the internet, so where?

"The commendable cast also includes Zheng Zaishi's granary director Gu Yanshan, a war hero wound in the front line, yet he must inure humiliation, calumny and disillusion in the peace time, Zheng emotively personifies a benevolent figure with all his might, his scenes of crapulous reminiscence and ebullition is among the most puissant. As for the two leads, Liu Xiaoqing doesn't shy away from the cynosure of Xie Jin's attentive camera, she comports herself with adequate dignity and dithery. Her Yuyin is spunky in the first half, who wears the pants in the family, then stricken down and devolves into a damsel in distress in the second half, passively accepts her kismet until gets revitalized by a new man in her life."

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