To Live Review
By: T.J. “little idiots from big idiots grow” Mulligan
Raising a family is tough work. Just watch any movie ever made about the subject or, better yet, talk to the members of your own family. Being a part of a family means being intimately involved in another person’s life to a point where the smallest action on your part can have huge ramifications on theirs. There’s no manual to teach you how to do it just right, no award for all your hard work, but you keep right on doing it day in and day out simply because of this overwhelming connection to this person or these people. In Zhang Yimou’s 1994 drama To Live this edict is prominently on display, even during a tumultuous time of change in Chinese history.
To Live is about Fugui Xu (Ge You), a young man in the 1940s who comes from money and knows exactly how to lose it in the gambling parlors. Because of this addiction, Fugui’s wife Jiazhen (Gong Li) threatens to leave him and take with her their daughter Fengxia and their unborn son, Youqing if he does not put and end to his gambling ways. Fugui does not listen and, while in the parlor one night, Jiazhen tries to get him to leave, which he refuses. That night Jiazhen departs and Fugui is finally asked to pay his debts to the parlor. Fugui has racked up so much debt that the only way it can be settled is by handing over his families estate. Living in destitute with his sick mother, Jiazhen eventually returns to a reformed Fugui, finally introducing father to son. To support his family, Fugui starts up a shadow puppet troupe that begins to travel and do shows, despite the country being in the midst of the Chinese Civil War. Fugui and his troupe are seized one night during a performance by the anti-communist forces and made to follow along with them. During a blisteringly cold night, Fugui and his friend Chunsheng (Guo Tao) awake to discover that many of the men in the regiment they have been assimilated into have been killed by communist forces, by which they themselves are captured. They go on to serve with the forces for a short time, working as entertainment, before finally being sent back home. Once home, Fugui finds that Fengxia is mute and partially deaf from a fever and that Jiazhen is forced to work long hours every day to support the family. Communism has now swept China, making Fugui’s home a much different place than he left it. As the decades roll on Fugui and Jiazhen continue to work to keep their family together in more ways than one.
This is a truly beautiful film to look at, often feeling like watching visual poetry. From the simple moments of the family together having a conversation in their tiny shack, to large-scale moments like when Fugui and Chunsheng witness the communist forces charging at them from a mountainside, the film consistently keeps a very visually-oriented approach going. That’s not to say looks is the only thing going for this film, however, as the acting is top notch as well. You and Li dig deep to run a gamut of emotions throughout this film, making the audience believe they truly feel every moment their characters feel. Li is a regular in Yimou’s films and, after watching her performance here, I can surely see why.
This film has a lot going against it for western audiences. It’s in a foreign language, it has a pretty hefty run time, and it’s pretty much a total downer. The bad shit that this family endures is just maddening to view. Of course it’s all supposed to play to the fact that the strong bond of a family can overcome much heartache, but towards the middle of the film you can’t help but wonder if God is playing some cruel trick on this poor family, and just when you think it’s going to take a leap to the positive you get thrown right back into the shit with the Xu clan. It’s a very well constructed film with a lot of good going for it, but it’s definitely not the movie you want to watch if you’re looking to keep the mood light.
I give To Live 3 stampeding communist forces out of 5.
