The Road

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Audience Member Filmed in the Yunnan Province of China, the cinematography is breathtaking, the story a poignant one. The film begins in the mid 1960s when the spirit of the Communist Revolution was still high and the excesses of the Cultural Revolution hadn't kicked in. Zhang plays bus ticket girl, Li Chunfen. The bus driver, played wonderfully by comedian exploring serious film roles Wei Fan, though much older than Li, has a crush on her (like almost everybody else). Li's affection, however, is for a frequent passenger, Dr. Liu, who's been transferred to Yunnan because his family was rich and he's a bit of an intellectual, qualities that are increasingly suspect as the Cultural Revolution kicks in. The doctor has been sent to a hard labor camp and when Li sneaks out to meet him one night and is caught, things change dramatically for her. She is forced into an arranged marriage with the bus driver who uses his clout with the local party leaders to help her avoid a fate worse than the surface level crime of losing face and bringing shame upon herself. I don't want to give a complete play by play of the storyline, suffice to say The Road is not only a personal journey and a love story, a really touching one it turns out, without an ounce of melodrama, it's also an educational story for those of us unfamiliar, as a portrait of changing times in China, lovingly told. The film takes us from a time when a sense of community and shared values were alive, through the violence and upheaval of the Cultural Revolution, and into modern times where some celebrate the loosening of a moral structure and others remember it fondly. And it does it without any political agenda. It's beautiful. Bravo. <a href='http://sitenoise-atthemovies.blogspot.com/2010/06/road-fang-xiang-zhi-lu-2006-china.html' target='_blank'>sitenoise at the movies: The Road [2006] China</a> Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Road

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