Terra e polvere

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.

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.

A couple are matched together for their families' convenience - abused and sickly woman, and put upon, hard-working man. Together they find a measure of happiness and belonging that was missing in their lives.

The movie is beautifully shot, with picturesque landscapes and the images of the shifting seasons. It is a slow film - really a slice of life. The actors played their characters very well.

Beyond the story, the movie left me with a sense of the difficulties of life in rural areas.

This is the story of an unlikely love in a world on the brink of extinction.

In a capitalist China, where the economy is growing at an astounding pace, there is no longer a place for peasants, who live self-sufficiently from what they produce, in the adobe houses they build and which the government subsidizes the demolition. They need to be moved to social neighborhoods, where the houses have balconies and lots of light. But as the protagonist rightly says, where do I put the donkey and the chickens?

The portrait of a rural China on the verge of extinction and the unlikely love between a couple of peasants, rejected by their families, who build a simple but happy life in the house they built with their own hands, from tireless work in the fields.

A poem to old China, which quickly disappears, at the mercy of speculators who drive BMWs and suck the blood out of peasants.

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.