The Road Home (2000-China)

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Movie: The Road Home
Chinese: 我的父親母親 (Wo de fu qin mu qin)
Director: Yimou Zhang
Writer: Shi Bao
Producer:
Cinematographer:
Release Date: February 15, 2000
Runtime: 89 min
Language: Mandarin
Country: China

Plot

For the first time in many years businessman Luo Yusheng drives to Sanhetun, the village in North China where he was born. The district mayor called him to tell him that his father died suddenly, and Yusheng is rushing back to be with his mother. He finds her grief-stricken, keeping a sad vigil outside the decrepit village schoolhouse. But she is adamant that her husband's funeral will follow age-old local customs, even if they are rarely observed nowadays. She will personally weave the funeral cloth on the village loom, and local men must carry the coffin from the hospital back to the village.

The mayor hopes that Yusheng will persuade his mother to be more 'reasonable' - for example, to allow the coffin to be driven rather than carried. He fears that even if he could find men willing to carry the coffin many miles through the winter snows, there would not be enough of them. Most of the young men of Sanhetun - like Yusheng himself - have left the village to work in faraway cities.

As he watches his mother weave the funeral cloth, Yusheng reflects on what he's heard of his parents' courtship. Everyone in the village knew the story at that time.

His mother Zhao Di was an 18-year-old (living with her blind, widowed mother) when the 20-year-old Luo Changyu arrived from East Gate to be the village schoolteacher. She was considered the prettiest girl in Sanhetun, and she set her sights on the handsome newcomer as soon as she saw him. When Changyu teamed up with the village men to build a new schoolhouse (and Zhao Di, following tradition, was nominated to weave the red cloth that would be wound around its rafters), she always hoped that Changyu would pick her dishes from the lunch-table provided communally by the women. And when the new school was opened, Zhao Di took to drawing water from the little-used old well - because that brought her close to the schoolhouse and gave her the chance of passing Changyu as he escorted pupils home.

Her efforts to attract the teacher's attention were successful. By the time it was Zhao Di and her mother's turn to invite Changyu to eat in their home, he was shyly showing his interest. And so it was a huge blow to Zhao Di when men arrived from the city to take Changyu away with them for questioning. Changyu snatched a moment to say goodbye to Zhao Di, promising to return as soon as possible and giving her a hairpin as a small gift. During Changyu's protracted absence, Zhao Di went to the schoolhouse to clean it up and repair its paper windows. That was when the rest of the villagers realised that she and Changyu were in love. There was much talk, because arranged marriages were still the norm then. This was Sanhetun's first "love match".

Changyu was away for a long time. One day he was rumoured to be due back, but didn't return. Zhao Di waited for him so long she became feverish and then set off through the snow and mist to look for him in the city. She was found collapsed in the snow and brought home with a bad chill. She woke two days later to find that Changyu had come back, and had sat by her bedside for hours. It turned out that Changyu had sneaked away without permission from some political tribunal in the city specifically to see her. His disobedience was punished when he went back to the city, and he and Zhao Di were kept apart for two more years. When he finally came back along 'The Road Home" to Sanhetun, Zhao Di was there to greet him. And they were never separated again.

Back in the present, Yusheng realises that his mother's wishes for Changyu's funeral must be respected. He gives the mayor 5000 yuan to hire 32 men to carry the coffin in shifts and to keep them plied with cigarettes and rice-wine. But when the day of the funeral arrives, more than a hundred of Changyu's former pupils turn up to carry his coffin, and none of them will accept payment. The coffin is laid to rest near the old well, overlooking the schoolhouse.

Next day Zhao Di takes Yusheng to the schoolhouse (due to be rebuilt next spring) and reminds him that his father always hoped that he would succeed him as the village teacher. And before he leaves to go back to his job in the city, Yusheng spends one day teaching the local children in the old building.

Production Notes

Cinematographer Hou Yong was born in 1960 and was Zhang Yimou's classmate in the cinematography class of the Beijing Film Academy. He has worked on such films as THE DAY THE SUN TURNED COLD by Hong Kong director Yim Ho and Tian Zhuangzhuang's HORSE THIEF and THE BLUE KITE. This is his second film with Zhang Yimou after NOT ONE LESS.

Art Director Cao Jiuping graduated from the Xian Art Institute in 1982 and has worked on all of Zhang Yimou's films.

Soundman Wu Lala is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy in Sound. His previous films include: EAST PALACE, WEST PALACE by Zhang Yuan, EIGHTEEN SPRINGS by Hong Kong director Ann Hui, SPICY LOVE SOUP by Zhang Ming and NOT ONE LESS.

Editor Zhai Ru is originally from Beijing and worked as continuity on the films IN THE HEAT OF THE SUN by Jiang Wen, TEMPTRESS MOON by Chen Kaige. She served as editor on Zhang

Yimou's KEEP COOL and NOT ONE LESS and Lu Yue's Locarno Golden Leopard winner MR. ZHAO.

Music composer San Bao was born in Beijing in 1968 and is a graduate of the Beijing Music Institute. He has worked as composer on the films THE DIVORCE, BE THERE OR BE SQUARE and NOT ONE LESS.

Original screenwriter, Bao Shi was born in Heilongjiang Province in 1959. He was a farmer, teacher and majored in Dramatic Literature at the Heilongjiang Arts Academy. He is now based in Harbin and has written several novels, including REINCARNATION, FANTASYLAND, BAI ZHUANG, FIELD OF DREAMS, COUNTRY MUSIC and SPRING AND AUTUMN MEMORIES.