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 looks as simple as it can be. It is simply a record of the journey of two postmen in the mountains, father, son and their dog. The father is retiring and the son is taking over the job, with the help of their dog Buddy, who has been helping all along. But wait...

If you enjoy the docudrama style of "Not One Less" by Zhang Yimou, you will love this movie. It makes use of similar techniques but to an even more superb level. It does not attempt to 'tell a story', but simply lets the facts, conflicts and feelings unfold as the journey of the father and son goes on. It is so 'real' that even the names of the characters were not mentioned, they are just 'the postman', 'the son' as people would address them. (And as you would address your postman.)

The 'son' is one of the very few Chinese actors in recent Chinese cinema with cute looks and top quality acting. All the other actors did a great job as well.

The cinematography is excellent, especially when compared to most Chinese movies where lighting is poor. But this is not too surprising, knowing that the director had been an Art Director before.

The movie was based in the early 80's in China, and I just wonder if they are still using the same methods to distribute mail. Anyway I would like to pay my respect to all mail staff who have taken part in the difficult process of helping people communicate with each other, making the world a smaller and happier place.

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.

i saw the film during a recently held chinese film festival. i am happy i saw. this is the first film that i saw where the lead characters have no names! 1. the following scenes touched me the most. the father suffers from knee/leg pain. the son arranges the letters, the air blows off the letters. the father DASHES off and the Dog chips in, simply superb.

2. The son carries the father on his back across the river. on reaching the father turns away his face from the son to wipe his tears.

3. the interplay between the father, the son and the dog when they leave their house on work.

i thank the entire team for giving a wonderful movie to enjoy

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.