Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)

I haven't read the book but I have to say that this movie was almost perfect except for the ending. It's about two Chinese male teens sent to the Phoenix Mountains in China to be re-educated about Communism. There in the mountains, they meet an attractive Chinese little seamstress who they read books too like Balzac and others that are normally forbidden. It's a shame that in some parts of the world that censorship goes on but it does. In this movie, the storyline is neither simple nor too complex despite the subtitles. I found myself wanting to read the novel itself when I was done. I found the movie to be treasured and watched for years to come. I found the love story realistic and the ending was a bit vague as well. Regardless, the film showed the mountains of China during the 1970s, the hardship, the reality, and a way to escape their dreary lives.

"Balzac and the little seamstress" is French made film which portrays the profound impact that illicit French literature has on a peasant Chinese village during the cultural revolution. Outsiders, two city boys sent from the big city for re-education, breezily deal with the hardship of peasant life and the disapproval of their bourgeois ways. Fortunately for them, they are saved by their discovery of the presence of a stash of cultured (mostly French) foreign literature. They then begin their own re-education project in an effort to bring civilization to object of their love, the cute little seamstress. Unfortunately the film becomes an unconvincing lesson in the enlightening impact of European and particularly French culture when presented to rural Sichuan peasants. The pretensions of this concept are bad enough. But even this half-baked concept becomes more laughable the hands of this ham-fisted director. Attempts at comedy fall flat and the character relationships are empty. Without this there is little of value in such a film except for the undeniably beautiful setting.

Two men are sent to a village in the mountains for re-education during Mao's cultural revolution. Both fall in love with a seamstress in the village to whom they read forbidden books to in stolen moments. Beautiful, but unevenly paced story about the power of literature and music to change the world and change ourselves. Mostly unremarkable, the film pretty much does what you think it will, and since the film wasn't made by Orwell the ending (or its type) is never really in doubt. I really enjoyed the interaction between the characters, the exchanges between them seem genuine and real but the plot line isn't gripping, this is a story about literature changing the world not a thriller with mad escapes. Admittedly watching this at 1230 in the morning didn't help my ability to remain focused, however I still think that I probably would have had my attention wander. That said worth a look, but not too late at night in the middle of a movie marathon

I was really moved by the portrayal of the friendship of the Little Seamstress, Ma, and Luo, and how their lives were changed by their experience in the mountains in this brief span of time. The mountains were beautiful, the re-educators were not presented as monsters, and the acting, esp Xun Zho as Little Seamstress and Ye Liu as Ma was really good. Xun Zho reminded me of the young Gong Li in Red Sorghum. Most importantly, I rediscovered how lucky I am to be able to read and watch what I want when I want, and how I am almost obligated to take advantage of my freedom to read and watch movies.For me, the filming was never as strong as the better Asian movies but once the movie got going the filming became stronger as did the movie.The character of the harshness of the cultural revolution in China in the 60's was shown thru a politically soft-focus lens, but I did not mind this as there are more than enough Chinese movies that have leaned in the other direction, and for me, this was a movie about friendship and love in a political and cultural setting, not the other way around which matches my own personal preferences.