Na shan na ren na gou

Lovely, sentimental film about life transitions for a father (Ten Rujun) and his young adult son (Liu Ye), set against a background of almost achingly beautiful landscapes photographed in the mountains of Hunan Province in south central China.

The time is the present, and the father, though only in his early 40s, is no longer physically able to conduct his torturous postal route made on foot, carrying a huge mail pack deep into the mountains. He has arranged for his son to inherit his job.

A vital member of the operation is the family dog, a precocious German Shepard who refuses to go out on the route with the son: it's too radical a departure from custom. So the father must also make the son's inaugural trip with him, to get the dog to go along. It's a good thing, too. Because there is much for the young man to learn that the dog alone could not have taught him.

For example, there is a blind woman living on an isolated farm who gets letters from her son living in the city. Actually he only sends money, never a personal note. So the father has made up letters from him to "read" to her over the years. In a small village, everyone turns out and the son can see that his father is deeply revered by the villagers as an important state official and singular link to the larger world.

The father also has some lessons to learn from his son, about village life back home, and the wants and needs of his mother, for the father has truly remained a stranger there through the years. The screenplay was adapted from a short story with the delightful title: "That Postman, That Mountain, That Dog."

The film won the 1999 Chinese Golden Rooster (Jin Ji) awards for best film and best actor (Mr. Ten). It also has been highly popular in Japan. An English subtitled cut was only prepared in 2003 and its distribution in the U.S. began just in mid-autumn, 2004. A gorgeous film about life's passages. (In Mandarin). My rating: 8/10 (B+). (Seen on 03/25/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.

Several months after seeing this film, it still has an impact on me. I can visualise the scene where the son piggy-backs the father across the river, the scene where the son reads the letter to the old lady etc. So little is said in this film, but it is pregnant with meaning. It has been a long time since a film touched me so deeply.

I only chance upon this precious gem of a film from China while watching the DVD extra features of a Hong Kong film. Director Carol Lai talked about how she came to select actor Liu Ye in her film "The Floating Landscape" 2003. I caught her mentioning the film "Nashan Naren Nagou" (aka "Postmen in the Mountains) and I checked it out. It was a remarkable surprise - I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Its positive energy never thrust at you, but just be, and at times touching that would bring a heartwarming smile and tear simultaneously.

It may appear to be a simple film about the life of a postman who delivers mail in the rural mountains, but there's a lot more than meets the eye. And what a feast for the eye: the scenery is amazing and the cultural folklore enchanting. The simplicity (ease) of it all: direction, storytelling, cinematography, editing with sound and music flowing with the natural performances become an integral whole. The depth of varying emotions between father and son, mother and son, father and mother (in nostalgic flashbacks), father and the dog (affectionately called: the 'second son') - more than subtly reveals through the son's narration and realization how much the postman job means to his father and the people he served all these years. It's no simple story after all - a maturing journey where the son and the father grew to appreciate each other, strengthened their bond and increased their love of the family's central 'pillar' - the mother/the wife in their lives. The storyline is the staple of Asian culture.

As you go on this journey with the central characters, you will be rewarded more than hundredth fold. "That mountain, that man, that dog" - the literal translation of the Chinese title of the film comes as naturally and gently as the film is delivered. "Postmen in the Mountains" is not to be missed. It's available on DVD in Chinese with English subtitles. (If I remember right, it even featured a tune in English somehow.)

The story is simple. Only it is not. A son is taking over the postman job of his father, who is forced to retirement due to arthritis. And on his first day of job, the father walks along to show him the rope (literally). The job is simple, they walk uphill 80 kilometers a day for two days, and back down 80 kilometers on the third day, dropping off and picking up mails in the villages along the way. Yet the job is not that simple at all, the postman's job involves a lot more than just simply delivering mail, he also need to know the relationships amoung the villagers by heart. The story revolves around the relationship between the father and son. It is not a rebellion relationship typically seen in western movies, the son already appreciates the sacrifice his father has to make, considering the father is one of the only few literates in the area, yet he spents almost 30 years delivering mail on foot, often away from home for months - it is a great sacrifice (there's a scene late in the film which the son tells his father what needs to be done in their own village, and you realize that the father has been away from home for so long that he knows little about it). But this time, the son truely experiences and understands the difficulty of the job. The last few scenes of the film tells that even though the father may not have spend much time with his son, he could trust no one but him for the job, and you understand why his son, who could probably spent his life in the cities, takes his job at the beginning of the film.

Sometimes funny, but mostly touching, the subtle but deep bond between the father and son is very well acted.

Great cinematagraphy, well suited for the subtle tone of the film.

There are many little bits that would be lost to the westerners if translated in English. For example, the Chinese title of the film is "Those Mountains, Those People, That Dog", refering to their trusted family dog, a constant companion on the road. The name of the dog (in English dub is apparently Bingo), is "Lao Er", an often used term to descript the second son of the family. Even so, if it had a wider release in the states, I truely believe that it would win a lotta awards.

A postman in the Hunan region is retiring, passing on the role to his son. The route is a gruelling one through the mountains, and Dad's knees can't take the pounding any more. On Son's first day, Dad and dog Buddy accompany him to familiarise him with the route. The job has kept Dad away for long stretches, so Dad and Son use the journey to re-acquaint themselves.

The meagre plot is more than compensated for by lush photography, naturalistic acting and keen attention to detail. Son realises his father does more than just deliver mail; he keeps families together, protects the weak and vulnerable, provides guidance to the young. Father realises that his son is a man and has missed having a father over the years. Son hears the story of how his father met his mother on the route - and then gets to enact possibly his own story of pre-destined lovers...

You feel as if you are on the mountain paths with these three (the dog is very much a character in the travels). Their journey, both physical and spiritual, speaks to family, belonging, human connection and what the sum of a working life adds to. There is a passing of the baton, a shift from one stage in life to another, for all involved. The dog becomes the symbol for the acceptance of this at the end, in a hugely cathartic visual mise-en-scene. An elegiac and uplifting film, imbibed with humility.