The Road Home (1999 film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Road Home


caption =
writer = Bao Shi (novel & screenplay)
starring = Zhang Ziyi
Sun Honglei
Zheng Hao
Zhao Yulian
director = Zhang Yimou
producer = Zhang Weiping
Zhao Yu
cinematography = Hou Yong
editing = Zhai Rui
music = San Bao
distributor = China:
Beijing New Picture Distribution Company
United States:
Sony Pictures Classics
released = Japan:
November 5, 2000
Hong Kong:
December 14 2000
United States:
May 25, 2001
runtime = 89 min
language = Mandarin
budget =
imdb_id = 0235060
amg_id = 1:187092

"The Road Home" (Traditional:我的父親母親; Simplified: 我的父亲母亲; Literal translation: "My Father and Mother"; Hanyu Pinyin: wǒde fùqīn mǔqīn) is a 1999 film directed by the Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou. It also marked the cinematic debut of the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

Plot

The Road Home is the story of a country girl (Zhang Ziyi) and a young teacher falling in love during the 1958 Anti-Rightist Movement and the teacher's death many years later that brings their son back from the big city for the funeral.

The film begins in black and white in present day China when the son returns to his village from the city upon hearing of his father's death. His mother, Zhao Di, insists upon following the tradition of carrying the coffin back to their remote village by foot so that her husband's spirit will remember its way home. As the narrator, the son recounts the story of his parents' courtship, so famous that it has gained the status of a legend in the village. It is here the bleak black and white turns into vivid colors as the story shifts to the past.

His father came to the village as the teacher. Immediately, Zhao Di (Zhang Ziyi) became infatuated with him and he with her. Thus began a courtship which consisted mostly of the exchange of looks and glances between the two. Unfortunately, the courtship was interrupted when the teacher was summoned by the government, probably because he was deemed as a "Rightist" by the new communist government. Zhao Di lost her heart and fell gravely ill, so ill that the villagers thought she would die. However, upon hearing the news, the teacher was able to sneak back to the village and Zhao Di, in tears, welcomed the sight of her beloved. Still, their love would not be consummated for a few additional years as the teacher was kept away from the village as punishment for having left his assignment in the city without permission.

Returning to the present day, and black and white, the son realizes how important this ritual of carrying the coffin back to village is to his mother, Zhao Di, and he agrees to make all necessary arrangements to fulfill her wish. He is told by the mayor of the village that it might be difficult to find enough porters to carry the father home, as there are few young able men left in the village. The mayor and the son reach an agreement on the price to be paid to the porters. Upon setting out on the way home, more than 100 people show up to help carry home the casket of the man who was their teacher through various generations in the village. Others who would have come to help were unable to do so because of the heavy snowstorm. The mayor returns the money to the son, as no one will accept payment for doing what they consider to be an honour rather than a task.

On the morning of the day the son leaves to return to his job in the city, he fulfills his father's dream and teaches a class in the old schoolhouse that was central to his parents having fallen in love.

Main Cast

*Zhang Ziyi - Zhao Di as a young woman, the film's protagonist
*Zheng Hao - Luo Changyu, a young teacher sent from the city, Zhao Di's husband and the narrator's father
*Zhao Yulian - Zhao Di as an old woman
*Sun Honglei - Luo Yusheng, Zhao Di and Luo Changyu's grown son and the film's narrator, he returns to his home village in order to bury his father
*Li Bin - Grandmother, Zhao Di's elderly grandmother

Reception

The film received generally positive reviews, achieving a score of 88% on the film website Rotten Tomatoes. Several prominent critics also pointed out Zhang Ziyi's debut performance as particularly praiseworthy. [cite web | url = http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?title1=&title2=Road%20Home%2C%20The%20%28Movie%29&reviewer=Stephen%20Holden&v_id=187092&pdate=&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes | title = Two Lives In China, With Mao Lurking | accessdate = 2007-06-24 |date= 2001-05-25| author = Holden, Stephen|publisher = The New York Times] [cite web | url = http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/2001-05-25-road-home-review.htm | title = Zhang finds her 'Road Home' | accessdate = 2007-06-24 |date= 2001-05-29| author = Clark, Mike|publisher = USA Today] [cite web | url = http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/06/08/DD13394.DTL | title = 'The Road Home' | accessdate = 2007-06-24 |date= 2001-06-08| author = Guthmann, Edward & Morris, Wesley |publisher = The San Francisco Chronicle]

Awards

*2000 Golden Rooster Awards
**Best Picture
**Best Art Direction — Cao Juiping
**Best Director — Zhang Yimou
*2000 Hundred Flowers Awards
**Best Actress — Zhang Ziyi
*2000 Berlin International Film Festival
**Silver Bear — Jury Grand Prix
**Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
**Golden Bear (nominated)
*2000 Ljubljana International Film Festival
**Audience Award
*2001 Bodil Awards
**Best Non-American Film (nominated)
*2001 Sundance Film Festival
**Audience Appreciation Award
*2001 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
**Best Foreign Language Film (nominated)
*2001 Fajr Film Festival
**Crystal Simorgh for Best Film, International Competition
*2001 Florida Film Festival
**Audience Award for Best International Feature Film

ee also

*Cinema of China
*Anti-Rightist Movement — Political background of the film

References

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/theroadhome/index.html Official site] from Sony Pictures Classics
* [http://www.helloziyi.us/ Zhang Ziyi: The Road Home]
* [http://csc.ziyi.org/filmography/theroadhome/index.html Zhang Ziyi CSC — The Road Home]
*imdb title|id=0235060|title=The Road Home
*rotten-tomatoes|id=1108624-road_home
*amg title|id=1:187092|title=The Road Home