China Tells

Movie Review – The Road Home – Zhang Yimou – 1999

This movie marked the cinematic debut for Zhang Ziyi, one of the famous Chinese actress for the moment.

Concerning itself with the relationship between the old and the new, and of city and country, “The Road Home” specifically involves a young man living in the city who returns to his beautiful, peaceful but poor birthplace to attend the funeral of his father, the much revered local teacher. The inconsolable mother insists that he receive an old-style funeral, rarely seen since the Revolution, for which dozens of men will be required to accompany the coffin on the way to the place of burial. As the son organises the event, he recounts the burgeoning relationship of his young parents for whose romance the dusty, winding country road proved crucial. Hence its importance to the funeral.