The Story of Qiu Ju
Film Review
Most cinema goers who patronise the neighbourhood cinema hall are usually treated to blockbusters with plenty of sex and violence with strong nationalistic overtones where our good guys overcome foreign bad guys. So we miss out on some of the fine films that are being made around the world in countries as diverse as France, Germany, Italy, Iran,
China, Japan and Russia.
The Story of Qui Ju is one such exceptional film made in China in 1992 by famed Chinese Director, Zhang Yimou. It is entertaining, touchingly emotional and carries an absorbing story. The filming is superb. The story is set in a primitive and remote village in China of the 1990s. The heroine, Qui Ju, a farmer’s wife (played by Gong Li, a leading Chinese actress), is outraged that the village chief, Wang Shantang, has assaulted her husband,
Qinglai, hit him in the chest and kicked his testicles. She is already pregnant with a child but fears that the family “crown jewels” are damaged forever. China’s one child policy makes every child, especially a male child, precious. The assault was due to a quarrel where the village chief felt insulted by a remark by the farmer that he was only capable of producing “hens”, referring to his failure to have a male child.
The wife and his sister take the injured man in a push cart to the medical clinic in the nearest town. The clinic is so inadequate and spare that it can barely carry that title. The medical technician provides some medications and gives a report on the injuries. Qui Ju takes the report and vows to punish the chief. The story of the film is about her quest for justice where her aim is to get the chief to apologise for his actions and gain back the family respect.
She takes the case to the local police, where they try to create an amicable settlement by getting the chief to pay compensation. They want peace in the village. But Qui Ju does not want money, she wants an apology for the insult to her family, and the irascible chief will insultingly give money but not an apology. Unhappy with the verdict she takes the case to the next higher level, the District Police headquarters in the big town. The police chief here is sympathetic but also seeks to obtain an amicable settlement and agrees to increase the compensation. But Qui Ju does not want the money: she wants only an apology. She spends more of the family resources seeking justice than any compensation that could be obtained. Every time she sets out to seek officials in town and city she has to sell part of her family’s chillie crop to finance her expeditions. Despite her delicate health in her advance stage of pregnancy and the difficulty of travel during winter, she decides to take the matter to the higher Appeal Court in the main city in the district.
By this time, even her husband, who is now cured of his injuries, is fed up with her craze for justice. But she doggedly continues her quest with the support of her sister-in-law, ignoring her husband’s protests. Before the final ruling of the Appeal Court, she nearly dies at childbirth but is saved by the prompt actions of the village chief with whom she has carried out a vendetta who obtains help during the winter night to take her to a hospital. One month after the birth of a baby boy, the happy Qui Ju hosts a celebration where the village chief would be the chief guest. But by then the Appeal Court ruling has been given and, unknown to her, the village chief has been sentenced to jail. While she anxiously waits for his arrival at the celebration party as chief guest, a police party carts him to jail amid screaming police sirens. The film ends with her desperate run in the snow to intercept the police vehicles taking the Chief to jail.
Qui Ju is not portrayed as a single minded avenger, but is a complex character with a soft heart. When the Appeal Court summons the District Police Chief, who has been very kind to her, to answer for his decision in the case, Qui Ju is distraught he will be penalised and tries to withdraw her case till the Police Chief assures her that it is only a routine procedure.
The Gong Li’s acting is superb. The country women’s journeys to town and city are done with finesse showing the country bumpkin’s amazement at the sophistication of the city and the dangers the two women face from urban hustlers. The film ends on a dramatic note with the irony of Qui Ju getting her revenge when she does not want it any more.
The film has won several awards: Venice Film Festival’s Golden Globe (1992), Vancouver International Film Festival (1992), French Syndicate of Cinema Critics (1993), Independent Spirits Award (1994), National Society of Film Critics Award (1994), and many others in China itself.
Kenneth Abeywickrama
12 November 2012