# Tian yu (1998)

### reviewed by
Murali Krishnan

    [3.0/4.0]

(This film was released under the English title "Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl".)

The Chinese Cultural Revolution was a period when government policies were instituted to achieve idealistic reforms, but which sometimes brought devastating consequences. One such policy was the program to send city youth to the countryside to learn skills from the rural craftspeople. Although the goal was to provide an alternate education for a base of workers who would strengthen the republic, these "sent-down" youth might find themselves isolated in the countryside in a struggle with bureaucracy to try to get back to the city and their families. This is the backdrop for this film, a tale of innocence lost and a symbolic presentation of how simple human corruption can topple tenuously constructed idealism.

Xiu Xiu (Lu Lu) is a Chinese girl living in the city. She is young and inexperienced, and thus embraces the government policy of service that ask young people to become educated in the countryside. She expects to serve her country and return to her family when her service is completed. Her assignment takes her to a powdered milk factory in the remote reaches of Tibet, but she is quickly reassigned to learn horse herding, with the goal of creating a young womens' cavalry.

The initial setup is given by a voice over narration from a childhood friend of Xiu Xiu. Its past-tense reference gives a sense of forboding, making it apparent that tragedy will befall the characters. In the halcyon days of youth, Xiu Xiu is a lively girl who aspires to serve her country, but it also represents the spirit of naivete with which people clung to in this chapter of Chinese communism. It was thought that simple devotion and organized hard work were the only necessities in building the nation, but ignored was the fact that simple human weakness will introduce corruption and exploitation.

Her apprenticeship is with Lao Jin (Lopsang), a Tibetan man who is an expert rider. Although it might be initially seem inappropriate to leave a young girl alone on the steppes with a man, it happens that Lao Jin has an emasculating battle injury that renders him unable to have a sexual relationship. This in conjunction with a spotless service record enables the authorities to allow Xiu Xiu to be left alone in a single tent with Lao Jin. Although he may be considered less that a full man by the locals who know him, Lao Jin is an effectual and fearless horseman. He stoically goes about his duties as a master of his element. He is a powerful, capable man who controls his own destiny, which stands in stark contrast to Xiu Xiu.

Xiu Xiu is not happy with her situation. Although the high plains are a beautiful place, with piercing starlit nights, and vast open expanses, it is a difficult place to live. For a girl raised in the city, it is difficult to live such a bare existence, where even taking a bath is a luxury. Xiu Xiu dutifully performs her assignments in the hopes of eventually returning home to her family. However, as the days drag on, she gets no word about the completion of her assignment, and she begins to wonder if she has been abandoned and forgotten by the authorities.

One day a trader comes by Xiu Xiu. He hints to her that he is well connected back at headquarters, and that peddling influence could help Xiu Xiu get a transfer back to the city. Although she is young and naive, Xiu Xiu may have been able to see the trader's ulterior motives if she was not gripped with the overwhelming desire to leave Tibet. She begins an affair with him, mostly to gain an influential friend, but partly because loneliness has made him attractive to her. All attraction is shattered when other men slowly begin arriving at the tent; all of them bragging about the influence they wield at headquarters. The depth of Xiu Xiu's desperation causes her to have relationships with all the men, in an attempt to curry favors. She becomes blind to the fact that the more she gives in to them, the less likely it actually is that they would want to have her transferred.

Although Lao Jin has grown to care for Xiu Xiu, he cannot help but be repulsed by what she has let herself become. His skills and mastery of the countryside kept them alive and well, but he is powerless to stop the exploitation of Xiu Xiu, because it is a choice she has made. This reflects situations when corrupt government policies bring misery, and good people can only watch powerlessly and pity the victims.

The two acting performances are effective, with a standout performance by Lopsang. The story is gripping, but occasionally exceeds into melodrama. The film was banned in China for its sexual and political content, but it does not criticize the intentions of government policies, only the nearsightedness and ability for corruption.

Highly recommended. This film is a wrenching tale that typifies some of the blind policies of the Cultural Revolution. It is filled with inspiring cinematography, where the rugged plains symbolically reflect the human soul, which can both contain beauty and treachery.

    (c) 1999 Murali Krishnan
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