Desafiando o Destino

A gorgeous and very intelligent movie. Highly unusual to make a western from the Chinese point of view, also to make one from the woman's point of view.

These people do it without sentimentality; there's never a false note in it. Lalu has three strikes against her: an ethnic Mongol in China, a woman in a male culture, a Chinese in America. Yet she can draw on her warrior traditions forb a sense of pride inaccessible to most of her compatriots.

The relationships she gets into seem totally real; at the same time, there is no attempt to cover up the ugly reality of white racism (not that the Chinese men are much better than the Americans).

This is how the old west must have been, and this movie gives us an honest and dramatic portrayal. It deserves to be much better known.

OK, I will admit upfront that I am biased about this movie. "Thousand Pieces of Gold" had its world premiere in my city in Idaho in 1991 because it was the only sizeable town with a large old movie palace near the locations where these true-life events took place (but NOT where they were filmed, which was in Montana). (Lewiston even gets a shout-out in the subtitles near the beginning of the film.) During the several weeks that this movie played, I went to see it MANY times on the BIG SCREEN; watching it on TV screens just does not do the scenery justice, though we will perhaps never see it again in theaters. The story of Polly Bemis that the movie is based on is real, though the filmmakers do take some liberties with the facts. That does not bother most of us locals. We were all thrilled to see this story brought to life on film by many fine actors, capturing the flavor of what life was like in 19th Century Idaho mining towns--especially if you were not white. Rosalind Chao's performance is exceptional, and I have been told that this was the FIRST American movie made with a Asian-American actress in the lead role. Although the film seems to come to a rather abrupt end -- as though the filmmakers ran out of money -- it is still a fantastic film that deserves more attention than it has received, and certainly should be released on DVD. Make a point to see it, or own it on VHS, if you can.

I came across this movie because it has Chris Cooper in it and was just released on DVD in 2020 in a 4K digital restoration. The picture and sound are superb especially when you consider it was filmed 30+ years ago. It was filmed in Montana.

It is based on real people and their mostly factual story. Drought and famine threaten everyone in Northern China and Mongolia in 1880. To survive the dad sells his daughter, presumably into marriage. She is sent by ship and arrives in California where she is again sold and transported to Oregon where many men went to prospect for gold. Presumably to work as a prostitute for the man who bought her even though by that time slavery had been made illegal.

The young lady was headstrong, she did not comply and eventually worked herself into a better position. The movie is of that story and is very well made.

My wife and I watched it on DVD from our public library.

I wish this fantastic film were available on DVD. I own the VHS and find it more compelling with each viewing. Rosalind Chao and Chris Cooper ( who later went on to win an Academy Award) give topnotch performances and make me believe in the power of love and redemption. Their slowly building relationship in a hostile world and its low-key but very powerful denouement is a textbook in fine acting.The historical period has been covered before but never from the point of view of a Chinese immigrant woman. Lalu's courage, strength and intelligence as well as her sensuous exotic beauty are inspirational. As Charlie, Cooper gives a fine portrayal of a decent if flawed man who triumphs in the end. A real classic!

Poverty and hunger in China in the late 19th century force a family to sell their young daughter. She "Lalu" (Rosalind Chao) is shipped to the USA where she ends up being bought by the landlord of a saloon who intends that she be an additional revenue source for him, and entertainment for his horny customers. She is determined not to become an whore, though, and so now her strength of character is throughly tested until the arrival of well-meaning Chris Cooper's "Bemis" who might just be able to offer her a way out with some dignity. It's a gloriously shot piece of cinema, this - and the love story bubbles along nicely in the latter part once we have established the characterisations. Cooper is adequate, I never found him to be anything more, really - and there is a thought-provoking narrative that shines a light on the habits of certain cultures of using children as little more than bartering chips (especially girls); and of using women as little more than toys as adults. That adds quite considerably to the potency of the theme, and Chao does a good job keeping us focussed on her struggles and defiance. It probably is not a film you will remember for long, but it is well worth a watch as a testimony to tougher times.