- English name：The Herdsman
- Broadcast time：1982
- Starring：朱时茂、丛珊
- director：谢晋
Introduction
Today, I will introduce a Chinese film which called The Herdsman (牧马人mù mǎ rén). So let us have a brief introduction.
The Herdsman is a 1982 Chinese film about the life of a herdsman in western China from 1950s through the Cultural Revolution, and his reunion with his father from America. It was produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and directed by Xie Jin (谢晋Xiè Jìn), starring Zhu Shimao (朱时茂Zhū Shímào).
Plot
In autumn of 1980, an elderly Chinese American entrepreneur, Xu Jingyou ( Liu Qiong (刘琼Liú Qióng)), returns to China, and finds his son, Xu Lingjun ( Zhu Shimao), a herdsman working in Chilechuan Ranch in northwestern China. The father wants to take his son to the United States to inherit his assets. However, the junior Xu is very distant with his father. More than 30 years ago, the father had abandoned his wife and son to do business in America. His mother died of disease and Xu becomes an orphan. After graduating from high school, Xu became a teacher. In 1957, he was classified as a “rightist” and sent to work in a ranch in the underdeveloped northwest. In 1962, when the labor penalty was terminated, Xu stayed at the ranch as a herdsman. Due to despair, Xu even attempted to commit suicide. But his fellow ranchers, especially Grandpa and Grandma Dong and Guo Zi (郭子Guō Zǐ ), give him the courage and strength to carry on. During Cultural Revolution, Guo Zi and other ranchers protect him from political persecution. In 1972, Xu marries Li Xiuzhi (李修枝Lǐ Xiūzhī), a village girl who had fled the famine in Sichuan. They give bi rth to a son, Little Qingqing, and the family lived a carefree life. Xu was rehabilitated in 1979 and returned to his post as a teacher. In the evening when Xu meets his father at the Peking Restaurant, his heart is uneasy. He recalls his past at the ranch and his wife’s trust in his returning, which consolidates his decision to stay in China. The senior Xu finally understands his son, and the two resume their kinship. After sending his father home, Xu returns to the ranch and to his friends and family.
This is a very fabulous film.
Professional evaluation
Positive reviews
1、The film is quite skillful in artistic structure, refined, concise, and well-structured. The director’s specific arrangement of the plot has achieved a combination of rigidity and flexibility, and contrasting shades. The narration of events in the film follows the life course of the characters, often expressing the characters’ deep and implicit emotions at turns. The image of Xu Lingjun in the film is real and credible. The film adaptation is good because it revolves around the dramatic entanglement between Xu Lingjun and the people around him, and can use a series of visible contrasting artistic techniques to specifically and vividly write about his deep love for the motherland and his hometown.
2、Li Zhun’s adaptation adds a lot of color to the film, and the Beijing scenes and the ranch scenes are cleverly connected. The sense of proportion of the former and the strong colors of the latter make the film full of the charm of life.
3、The film is a thought-provoking and philosophical work. With its realistic and touching artistic images and distinctive artistic conception, it composes an ode to the beauty of human nature and human feelings, which is genuine, intrinsic, cold and profound. The film is not a melodrama, but it successfully depicts the inner world of the characters and vividly reveals their souls. While mobilizing all means to highlight this feature, the film is both intrinsic and implicit, and relatively lyrical and intense. At the same time, it combines sadness and joy, and has the artistic effect of “tears in laughter”.
Negative reviews
The film seems to be too much of a made-up film, giving people a sense of unreality. The description of the father is too formulaic, as if all people who have returned from abroad are like this. The image of the female secretary is also very ridiculous and ugly. The girl in the film acted very well, with personality and very natural, and she didn’t wait until she was the most beautiful to let people take pictures.
