Chine, ma douleur

Original title: Niu-Peng

1989
1h 26m

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In August 1966, the Cultural Revolution in full swing, 13-year-old Tian Ben is arrested for playing a pop record; he's sent to a remote mountain camp in Niu-Peng. There he's called "Four Eye... Read allIn August 1966, the Cultural Revolution in full swing, 13-year-old Tian Ben is arrested for playing a pop record; he's sent to a remote mountain camp in Niu-Peng. There he's called "Four Eyes" and, with about 16 other older boys and men, he's made to carry muck up a mountainside,... Read allIn August 1966, the Cultural Revolution in full swing, 13-year-old Tian Ben is arrested for playing a pop record; he's sent to a remote mountain camp in Niu-Peng. There he's called "Four Eyes" and, with about 16 other older boys and men, he's made to carry muck up a mountainside, make bricks, saw logs, and sing daily to Chairman Mao of his faults. There's camaraderie ... Read all

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IMDb RATING

6.1/10

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1User review

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total

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6.192

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zzmale

Tragedy in the absurd era

The literal translation of the title of this movie is: The Cattle Shed.

The Cattle Shed is an unique product of the Cultural Revolution, in which many people were persecuted. Sincere anything can be a crime and there were so many prisoners, jails and labors camps were not enough, so the cattle shed was used to house prisoners who did not commit serious crime such as counter-revolutionary crimes. The prisoners who are detained in cattle shed are those who committed minor offenses such as the case of this boy, our protagonist in the movie, who listened to pop music that was banned when the Cultural Revolution had started.

It is very difficult, even for those Chinese, particularly the Chinese equivalent of Y-generation, or to certain extend, even the Chinese equivalent of X-generation, to understand this movie because they had not live through that turmoil, and consequently, this movie should be frequently played in China to remind people not to let it ever happen again.