Return to Dust

Immensely ethereal scenes paired with a gut wrenching story. The story unravels like a cloth covering the true nature of a persons intentions slowly, but with an impact so strong, making you doubt, and question with great dissapointment the nature of the human behaviour. And in all of the chaos of greed two beacons shine throughout the movie...the two protagonists, the outcasts of the rotten society they've been brought up in...highlight the outmost beauty in human relationship. Youre always followed and reminded of the courage and the absoute humanitarian spirit of the couple and it makes you complete...Complete, for you need it if you want to make it to the ending.

By far the most humanitarian movie ive seen in a while.

For most Chinese people living in big cities, we don't know much about what it's like to be liviing in rural China. On all social media platforms available in China mainland, we are infused with the knowledge that all the people are living happy lives. But this movie gives us a perfect glimpse into a kind of life that's totally different than ours.

When I was watching the movie, I saw many people leaving comments below. Many of them said they have similar experiences when they lived in rurual when they were young. I know many Chinese people are still struggling with basic needs, but I didn't know they need to struggle so hard. Seeing the couple in the movie living a humble life but still keeping their kind hearts makes me cherish my comfortable life more and even makes me want to be a kinder people

Many say the scene is somewhat exaggerating the real situation, but what makes it curious is that the movie is banned by the Chinese government. This made me believe more that maybe it is actually like in rural China. I have to say I believe the government is trying to make people's lives easier, but it doesn't mean depictions of the other side of a propserous China can't be shown to people.

It's National Day Holiday here in China right now. When I was searching for a movie available in movie theaters, I didn't have much options other than movies paying homage to the government.

Everything the other reviewers have said. I would like to add that out of the many thousands of other films I have seen this is my second most admired (My favorite film is Matewan). Such a sad but profound story of the human condition. I cried heavily at the end. I can't understand why the Chinese government would ban such a masterful film because it's not going to prompt any meaningful actions by us peasants. The film only creates a human connection between the citizens from different parts of the world by showing us as essentially people, going about our lives as best we can. I would love this film to be promoted heavily in the west.

She lovingly cradles a little cardboard lightbox from him with holes that make her room appear like it is full of stars, and he gently places wheat husks on her wrist in the shape of flower petals. This late blooming romance between a poor farmer and an abused woman fills them each with such overwhelming happiness that anything seems possible. A rainstorm that washes away their work of many days, a demolished home, oppressive cold, and poverty, are nothing compared to their love. They find pleasure and wonder in everything; a nest full of swallows, hatching chickens, a wandering donkey, and bottles built into the roof of their home that make the wind sound like it is playing a melody. Still, the challenges of living in modern China constantly test their resolve, patience, and determination.

In addition to being a captivating and tender love story about a mature couple, Return to Dust provides an intriguing picture of the current affairs of China and the ways the developments are affecting the lives of rural populations, food supplies, and China's soul. People are encouraged to move to 70 story apartment towers when their homes are demolished, farms are flooded for massive hydroelectric projects, and artisans are replaced by machines and factories. I witnessed these issues at play in a visit to China in 2018.

It is heartening to witness this loving couple appreciate the small joys of life and peacefully accept adversity, and devastating when society seems to want to grind them into the dust in pursuit of questionable goals. "Where do our chickens, donkeys, and pigs live?" they ask when they are pushed to move to a condo. The couple is so kind to people and animals, and their greatest treasure is each other, so you wish them and those like them all the success in the world.

Screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

A review of the translations of the title of the beautiful film by the Chinese director Ruijun Li can already be an indication of how the film was distributed and received in the various cinema markets. Using Google Translate I found out that the exact translation of the Chinese title would be 'Cloud of Dust'. In the English market and at film festivals it was distributed with the title with biblical resonance 'Return to Dust'. The French, however, chose the title 'Le retour des hirondelles', while the Italians distributed it as 'Terra e polvere'. Finally, in Israel, the title chosen for distribution in Hebrew is 'habait shelanu' ('our house'). In China the film enjoyed quite a lot of success until the authorities decided to stop distributing it in theaters and on streaming, probably considering that the image of the Chinese village, the radical transformations that the traditional society goes through and their impact on the common people is too bleak. The film thus joins a long collection of good films, some even masterpieces, which were and are made in countries where strict censorship operates, and which - without directly criticizing the political regime or the authorities - are too uncomfortable in their content to be distributed to their own audiences. We have seen such films in the Soviet Union or communist Czechoslovakia, in Iran and now it is China's turn. The consolation is that if historical precedent is anything to go by, years from now a film like this will have a chance to be rediscovered and appreciated for its worth, not only artistically but also as a document of the era portrayed on screen.

'Return to Dust' is first and foremost a love story, one of the most unusual, one that perhaps should never have happened. The story takes place in a Chinese village from which those who can leave do it to seek their fortune in the city, and those who remain struggle with the rapacity of the capitalists and the bureaucracy of the authorities. Guying is a woman past her prime, she once suffered an accident that left her crippled and unable to bear children. Youtie is the poorest man in the village, he has only a donkey and his hands to earn a living. The families decide to marry them off - something related to the traditional marriage order in the families. Man and woman find themselves together and begin to discover each other, share their past traumas and sufferings, work to survive and bring joy to each other. Hard work brings them, if not prosperity, at least the ability to withstand the blows of fate and the malice of those around them. Three times the houses in which they dwell, one built with their own hands, will turn to dust. The typology of the 'stupidly good' character to which they both belong is developed in the direction of the affection of one towards the other.

Ruijun Li also wrote the screenplay for this film, and the production team was local, recruited from among his villagers and family members, in the very places where the story takes place. Many of the actors are amateurs and play their own lives on screen. Amazing how this locally made film manages to bring up with delicacy and an aesthetic approach that is at the same time realistic and expressive some major themes, significant for the whole of China and even beyond its borders: the hardships faced by the peasant class in a rapidly industrializing society, the contrast between economic capitalism and the traditional way of life, the lack of any social safety net to protect the most disadvantaged, the place of women in the family and society. But it is the personal story that dominates Ruijun Li's film. Is love possible in a system where matrimonial relationships are imposed? The film is an elegy for a disappearing world, but - with all the combination of dark themes and all the tragic events that happen on the screen - it is unexpectedly tonic and optimistic, and this is primarily due to the bright, simple and beautiful characters of the two protagonists. I must mention the names of the actors: Renlin Wu and Hai-Qing. Beautifully filmed and well acted, 'Return to Dust' is one of the best Chinese films I've seen in years. It's also very different from all the others, a proof that Chinese cinema can successfully tackle genres other than heroic historical epics or martial arts action films.