LUCIDO, Ma. Patricia M.

2013 68072

Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl: Film Commentary

I have seen other films with similar themes, but it doesnt discount the fact that this particular film
in one of the heaviest ones weve watched in class. It was simple enough to watch, almost short and sweet
in a sense except it wasnt really sweet anymore as the story progressed. The storyline was easy enough to
follow, and I found out that the director for this film (actress-turned-filmmaker Joan Chen) was also the
director of The Last Emperor. Comparing across the two movies, I could see how particular she was with
combining good elements in her film cinematography, because Xiu Xiu the Sent Down Girl also had that
same affinity for good landscape shots as well as the use of color elements.
At first, I really thought that it was Lao Jin whom I should be worried about, but in the end it just
turned out that I had the completely wrong impression about him. Knowing what its like as a fellow woman,
I sympathized greatly during the first scenes when Xiu Xiu tried to hide her washing up from Lao Jin by
doing it in the middle of the night, bathed in darkness. It eased the bad feeling a little when I finally realized
that Lao Jins character was not designed to be the villain of the story (seeing how much he took care of
Xiu Xiu in his own gruff way), but it also made me dread to know how worse it would be later in the story.
Xiu Xius admirer/boyfriend was an interesting person to add. The way he talked about Xiu Xiu,
from the beginning until the end, made me think that he was just using her image by idealizing it; in a way,
he was not much different from Xiu Xius subsequent string of bad clientele, because he viewed her in a
particular way (romantic girl from the grassfields) without touching on the reality of her situation. At first,
Xiu Xiu seemed really passionate about the whole idea of trying to remove the social and disparity within
the New China, and to a certain extent, her admirer shared the romantic ideaexcept that he romanticized
Xiu Xiu and not the idea of equal peasant labor for all. In this, I see the admirer in two ways: First, he
represents the emerging New China, with its people who greatly support endeavors for the emerging New
China but also turn a blind eye to what it really looked like, i.e. corrupt Party officials barely doing their
jobs to fulfill a minimum (hence, Xiu Xius situation), as well as the crippled guy Three Toes, who
shot himself to be able to use his handicap to get ahead of others in rations and other social benefits.
In relation to the first one, for me he also represented the reality of the situation at the time. It
was mentioned in different scenes during the film that the more people you know, the more favorable
your fate is. The admirer, along with a group of friends, was able to stay behind Chengdu because of who
his parents knew. Its important to know this, because this sheds a light towards the less savory side of
communismthe side where its not really equality if there are exceptions to the rule (there were a lot of
exceptions).
I also noted on Xiu Xiu being a coddled adolescent at home, which she was supposed to leave
behind when she got sent to do peasant labor. It was one of the reasons why her mother had a lot of things
to stay in the beginning, where she traded certain things to be able to send off quality toilet paper for Xiu
Xiu. Her time at the factory wasnt really shown, but beyond that when she got assigned to Lao Jin, Xiu
Xiu still lived a considerably comfortable lifeLao Jin did everything for her while they were under the
pretense that Xiu Xiu was sent there to train before she took charge of her own Iron Girls Cavalry. In the
end, the only difference between her two situations was the people: at home, her mother and relatives
lovingly took care of her, and up there in Tibet, was Lao Jin. Even then, until the end Lao Jin was at her
beck and call, when she begged him to shoot off her toes before changing her request to death.