Bai Xumei (Lu Huang) is excited about finally landing a job even though it takes her to a remote village in Northern China. But she finds that she has been tricked in to slavery and is now the wife of a farmer. In her desperation she pleads her case to anyone within earshot only to receive callousness as the answer. The movie is a little too real for comfort as you are constantly doubting if the people in it are really actors. The acting is almost guttural and you get the feeling that only few of the shots had to be retaken.
Apparently women continue to be sold into spousal slavery all over rural China with the support of the local authorities. Like in his debut feature, Blind Shaft, Yang Li focuses on a problem existing in modern day China that has its vestiges in the past. A striking look at China which has similar problems like India in that only small pockets of the country are seeing economic growth while large parts are ignored by the government. It is a wonder that the film was even released by the Chinese government!
Rating: * * *
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