|
| Name |
Postmen in the Mountains |
| Chinese |
Nashan naren nagou
那山、那人、那狗 |
| Directed by |
Jianqi Huo |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by |
Wu Si |
| Starring |
Yueming Pan
Rujun Ten
Quan Yuan |
| Cinematography |
|
| Release date(s) |
1999 |
| Running time |
93 min |
| Country |
China |
| Language |
Mandarin |
Plot
Father (Teng Rujun) has been a postman all his life. His job is to deliver mail to the remote
mountain areas of Hunan, China by foot. He is in his late 40s. But now, poor health is forcing him
to retire. He cannot trust anyone else but his son (Liu Ye) to take over the job. The morning
comes that Son is ready for his first trip as a postman. It's going to be a 3-day trip., 122
kilometers, as it always is. Father cannot rest easy, ans insists that heill come along, knowing the
importance of his job, and not quite able to give it up..
This is Son's first trip and Father's last. They have never taken a trip together.
The mountain paths are so familiar under Father's feet. However, walking them with his son
makes him feel strange. He has so much to say to him, but what comes out of his mouth is only
about the job. And Son doesn't even know how to address his own father properly. The word
"father" sounds so awkward to pronounce to him.
The trip is not as easy as Son thought it would be. Walking in the endless, nearly deserted zigzag
paths through the mountains, Son realizes how much Father has contributed to his work and the
people who depend on him to get messages to and from the outside world, and how much Mother
has given up to support the family. Father, in his eyes, is no longer as tall abd distant as he
remembers from his childhood. He's thin and common.
When they finally get to a creek for a short cut, Son insists that Father should never touch cold
water again. He wades across the creek with his father on his shoulders. The distance between
Father and Son evaoprates. For Father, it reminds him of how he used to carry Son at a time that
doesn't seem so long ago. At that moment, he knows he's getting old...
Cast
