Er di

The People's Republic of China just celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary, so I watched this movie that offers a less than flattering look at the situation of migrants. The protagonist is a man who had stowed away on a ship to the US and lived there for a few years before returning to China.

I understand that the director, Wang Xiaoshang, is part of the so-called Sixth Generation of the PRC's cinema: edgy, underground filmmakers. Whatever the case, "Er di" ("Drifters" in English) feels like a Jim Jarmusch movie: slow-moving, and offering a dismal look at things. Not terrible, but I have a feeling that the director will be an acquired taste. I doubt that I'll seek out another one of his movies anytime soon.

The theme of the film is to let the public know the fact that USA is not paved with gold, as many in China believed and risked their lives to reach USA illegally.

The literal translation of the title is 2nd younger brother. 2nd, because the protagonist is the 2nd child, and Di means younger brother.

This movie covers the subject of human smuggling which is already, and much better, covered in many other movies (e.g. El Norte). The story line is simple and has few, if any developed subplots.

The cinematography is kind of dreary and is obviously low-budget. It tends to be the same scene, and the use of light is boring. Even though it is depicting a poor village, this is no reason to not have better camera work.

Many of the actors don't have clear diction and have an accent. Sometimes it is hard to understand their Mandarin (There is one part when Er-di was talking to the smuggler, they did use a local dialect).

Will I watch it again? no! Overall, it is not a very interesting movie. I don't recommend it.

The pace of this movie is slow and would have been difficult to sit through had I not lived in North and South America and come into direct contact with Chinese who chose a path similar to the protagonist. What I learned was that life in the West was anything but ideal for these illegals. I witnessed 14 to 16 hour work days (usually in Chinese Restaurants), for 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Most Chinese regretted their decision to illegally go abroad but had no choice as they needed to work and repay family who put up the money for the voyage. For them, returning to rural China was not an option because going back a failure is unacceptable.

What this film does well is paint an accurate portrait of rural China today. Many young people are confused. Many lack the opportunity to gain an education or attain a skillful vocation. This ultimately leads people to make uninformed decisions with dire consequences. 6/10 for the fabulous cinematography.

This was one of the least enjoyable films to which I have subjected myself in some years. (I say "subjected" because it took me four tries to get past the first ten minutes, yet I held to my rather masochistic determination to see this movie through to the end.) The plot meanders and backtracks and ultimately goes absolutely nowhere. Although those inclined toward European cinema might find the entire offering moderately satisfying, I believe the average North American will only finish up wondering, "What was THAT all about?" Despite apparently being shot in Taiwan, Drifters is clearly little more than anti-western propaganda in the service of the regime of mainland China.

I give this film a "3" score strictly on the basis of its interesting editing and superb camera-work; however those elements still will not justify your expenditure of time or money on seeing this film unless you have a deep cultural (or political) connection to the setting and circumstances of the story.