La divine

The Goddess (Lingyu Ruan) works the Shanghai street as a prostitute to raise her beloved son. She falls under the control of The Boss. She tries to escape the life but she is pushed back in. He's an illiterate sadistic brute who even pretends to sell her son to put her in fear. Her son is ostracized by the other kids and she uses her hard earned money to pay for an education. The other parents find out and try to get him expelled. The elderly principal struggles to let him stay but he is unsuccessful. The boss steals the money she had hidden away.

This is a throughly modern movie. It's a silent movie from China. The lead actress is terrific. It is such a downtrodden portrayal. It's also amazing to see Shanghai during its 30s Golden Age. This is a treasure of a time gone by.

This film stars the beautiful and tragic actress Ruan Ling Yu as a prostitute in Shanghai, whose life is devoted to having her son excel in life. She is a prostitute so she can make money for him. Along the way, a man rescues her from the police and becomes her pimp, not exactly of her own choosing. The story is her struggle. In a lesser actress this could have been too sentimental and unrealistic. Ruan Ling Yu is amazing in this role. Keeping in mind this is a silent film, her expressions and mannerisms have to be on target and they always are. The concept of a prostitute with a heart of gold has been fairly overdone, but Ruan Ling Yu is so great, it makes the film great. A tragedy that she took her life at 24, it is a loss to anyone who watches films. Just a terrific film.

Shen nu / The Goddess (1934) : Brief Review :

An early path-breaking Classic from Chinese Cinema. As a woman she is a Prostitute but as a Mother she is The Goddess. Wow! This is a fine example of extraordinary writing based on ordinary people where at one side you show her as a prostitute and on the other side you show The Goddess hidden in her in the form of A Mother. Street walker by night, devoted mother by day, a woman fights to get her young son an education amid criminal and social injustice in China. Actually, it wasn't just about China but almost all the prostitutes were caught in the same vortex all over the world. The society had a clear mindset of not accepting the prostitute which was fair but not accepting her child whom she wants to make a good man was completely unfair. I am glad to know that someone like Wu Yonggang broke the silence on it in early 30s and set the trend of path-breaking and thought-provoking cinema that too in an industry like China where the sensitivity of this subject was damn too high. The Goddess is not just a powerful writing but also a highly emotional drama which will leave you teary-eyed for sure assuming that you understand the love and sacrifice of a mother for her child. Apart from that, you get to see one of finest performance by any Chinese actress of that time performed by Ruan Lingyu. The cinematic sense of director Wu Yonggang was matchless. He crafted the vulgar character without showing any offensive content, rather he kept it very audience friendly for all ages, including underage audience. Overall, The Goddess is a Must Watch for everyone who has ever loved his mother and for cinema lovers it has a terrific and daring content which was nothing short of trendsetter. Indeed, One of the most important film from Golden age of Chinese Cinema.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest

The Goddess (1934)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Extremely good silent drama from China about a devoted and loving mother (Lingyu Ruan) who wants the best for her young child so by night she works as a prostitute. This leads her to take all sorts of abuse by the other women in her area but worse of all is the abuse she takes from a man (Zhizhi Zhang) who pretty much takes possession of her. THE GODDESS is without question a true gem and certainly one of the best Chinese pictures I've seen from this era. It's easy to see why this film was such a hit in China when it was originally released and especially when one learns that many women in that era were working as prostitutes to support themselves. Making a silent film in 1934 certainly wasn't the norm at the time but I honestly don't think this movie would have worked had there been sound. Director Yonggang Wu does a masterful job at making everything flow so well that the added words would have just taken away from its poetic beauty. The film flows from one bad situation to the next and after a while you begin to realize that whenever something nice happens for the young mother then sure enough something bad will follow. What really makes this film work so well is the amazing performance by Ruan who apparently felt many of the same emotions as this character. From what I've read, before this film she had several suicide attempts and she eventually did kill herself about a year after this picture was released. Her performance is simply one of the best from this era in any film because of the emotion and love she shows for her kid. Even better is when the pain of her situation and "job" begin to haunt her. Zhang, who plays the abusive jerk, is certainly a major snake that people will have no trouble in hating. The only negative thing is that the film never really bothers to tell us how the mother got into this situation and there's really no explanation as to why she doesn't try doing something else. Still, THE GODDESS is without question a real gem with one of the best performances that you're going to see.

As an ancient Chinese poet has mentioned before, "it is even mesmerizing to be silent rather than with sound"... this is what i would like to quote here to describe the feeling when i was watching " Shennv".

A quite simple plot, but truly a heartbreak story...Even though it is not a talkie, no background music( the VCD version i watched), no color, but her splendid acting already captured my heart, the way she express the sorrow and the ambivalent being a wonderful mother and a depressed prostitute is simply captivating...I am wandering how a young actress (she should be 24 at that time), without any formal education of performing art, will able to achieve such a superb and impressive acting skills...no doubt she has become one of the screen legend in cinema history...

it is no doubt a genuine classics in Chinese silent cinema, worth watching...