Postmen in the Mountains

I was able to see the movie from a local channel that shows art films every week. The film is about a father passing on his work as a postman to his son. It is about family, home, traditions, and relationships. There's so many lessons in life that one would pick up from this movie.

There are good character developments especially for the son who got to know and understand more about his father's life. He saw a different side of his father through the people his father delivered letters to. In addition, the people that the father and son encountered along their journey are unique. One would be able to relate to them one way or another.

The film showed a lot of cultural traditions and sceneries such as rice fields, stream, mountain roads, sunsets, wedding festivals, traditional houses, weaving, and more. These small details give the film the right feel and atmosphere.

One would definitely gain a lot of insights by simply watching the film. The film is a reminder that one should appreciate the small things in life and the things we take for granted.

The story is simple. Only it is not. A son is taking over the postman job of his father, who is forced to retirement due to arthritis. And on his first day of job, the father walks along to show him the rope (literally). The job is simple, they walk uphill 80 kilometers a day for two days, and back down 80 kilometers on the third day, dropping off and picking up mails in the villages along the way. Yet the job is not that simple at all, the postman's job involves a lot more than just simply delivering mail, he also need to know the relationships amoung the villagers by heart. The story revolves around the relationship between the father and son. It is not a rebellion relationship typically seen in western movies, the son already appreciates the sacrifice his father has to make, considering the father is one of the only few literates in the area, yet he spents almost 30 years delivering mail on foot, often away from home for months - it is a great sacrifice (there's a scene late in the film which the son tells his father what needs to be done in their own village, and you realize that the father has been away from home for so long that he knows little about it). But this time, the son truely experiences and understands the difficulty of the job. The last few scenes of the film tells that even though the father may not have spend much time with his son, he could trust no one but him for the job, and you understand why his son, who could probably spent his life in the cities, takes his job at the beginning of the film.

Sometimes funny, but mostly touching, the subtle but deep bond between the father and son is very well acted.

Great cinematagraphy, well suited for the subtle tone of the film.

There are many little bits that would be lost to the westerners if translated in English. For example, the Chinese title of the film is "Those Mountains, Those People, That Dog", refering to their trusted family dog, a constant companion on the road. The name of the dog (in English dub is apparently Bingo), is "Lao Er", an often used term to descript the second son of the family. Even so, if it had a wider release in the states, I truely believe that it would win a lotta awards.

Truly one of the best films I have ever seen. The landscape scenes are breathtaking. And the calm, balanced development is consuming. There is a peace and a serenity in this film that I can really only compare to what I used to feel when I would take long walks alone along the Chicago lake shore. I've also felt this kind of peace looking out over the Utah Salt Flats from the tops of the Pilot Mountains.

I don't know why this film is so hard to find in the U.S. market; all I can surmise is that American distributors are skeptical of the appeal a gentle, beautiful film. In an age, though, where we're bombarded constantly with terror alerts and hard-driving action films, I've got to believe that a film as quietly powerful as this could find audiences who will quickly be enchanted by a rural postman, his son, their dog, and the simple, wonderful villages they deliver the mail to.

A postman in the Hunan region is retiring, passing on the role to his son. The route is a gruelling one through the mountains, and Dad's knees can't take the pounding any more. On Son's first day, Dad and dog Buddy accompany him to familiarise him with the route. The job has kept Dad away for long stretches, so Dad and Son use the journey to re-acquaint themselves.

The meagre plot is more than compensated for by lush photography, naturalistic acting and keen attention to detail. Son realises his father does more than just deliver mail; he keeps families together, protects the weak and vulnerable, provides guidance to the young. Father realises that his son is a man and has missed having a father over the years. Son hears the story of how his father met his mother on the route - and then gets to enact possibly his own story of pre-destined lovers...

You feel as if you are on the mountain paths with these three (the dog is very much a character in the travels). Their journey, both physical and spiritual, speaks to family, belonging, human connection and what the sum of a working life adds to. There is a passing of the baton, a shift from one stage in life to another, for all involved. The dog becomes the symbol for the acceptance of this at the end, in a hugely cathartic visual mise-en-scene. An elegiac and uplifting film, imbibed with humility.

Lovely, sentimental film about life transitions for a father (Ten Rujun) and his young adult son (Liu Ye), set against a background of almost achingly beautiful landscapes photographed in the mountains of Hunan Province in south central China.

The time is the present, and the father, though only in his early 40s, is no longer physically able to conduct his torturous postal route made on foot, carrying a huge mail pack deep into the mountains. He has arranged for his son to inherit his job.

A vital member of the operation is the family dog, a precocious German Shepard who refuses to go out on the route with the son: it's too radical a departure from custom. So the father must also make the son's inaugural trip with him, to get the dog to go along. It's a good thing, too. Because there is much for the young man to learn that the dog alone could not have taught him.

For example, there is a blind woman living on an isolated farm who gets letters from her son living in the city. Actually he only sends money, never a personal note. So the father has made up letters from him to "read" to her over the years. In a small village, everyone turns out and the son can see that his father is deeply revered by the villagers as an important state official and singular link to the larger world.

The father also has some lessons to learn from his son, about village life back home, and the wants and needs of his mother, for the father has truly remained a stranger there through the years. The screenplay was adapted from a short story with the delightful title: "That Postman, That Mountain, That Dog."

The film won the 1999 Chinese Golden Rooster (Jin Ji) awards for best film and best actor (Mr. Ten). It also has been highly popular in Japan. An English subtitled cut was only prepared in 2003 and its distribution in the U.S. began just in mid-autumn, 2004. A gorgeous film about life's passages. (In Mandarin). My rating: 8/10 (B+). (Seen on 03/25/05). If you'd like to read more of my reviews, send me a message for directions to my websites.