Jakarta theater to show Zheng's films banned at home
By Yudha Kartohadiprodjo
JAKARTA (JP): Cultural repression by an authoritarian government is not a good enough excuse for an art community to cease functioning. Indeed, this kind of control over society can become a source of inspiration.
Mainland China director Zheng Yimou has been creating internationally recognized films despite being banned by his government. Starting as a cinematographer in the early 1980s, Zhang has made numerous unsettling films that have given the world a window through which to view the reality of the restictions of life in mainland China.
"Zhang Yimou's films are deeply embedded with the culture he lives in. There is usually a strong historical context in his films," said Rayya Makarim, a film critic and the film curator of Theater Utan Kayu.
Theater Utan Kayu is presenting a series of Zhang Yimou films starring Gong Li for three days, starting on Friday night.
Zhang's works, at times, closely reflect the hardship he went through in his early life. Born into a family of nationalists, Zhang was ordered to work at a textile factory during the cultural revolution. A story goes that Zhang sold blood to buy his first camera while he was working at the factory.
His desire to enroll at the famous Beijing Film Academy was thwarted because he was five years too old for the college. After a persistent appeal to China's ministry of culture, using the cultural revolution as an excuse, Zheng was finally accepted in the Academy's cinematography program.
Zheng graduated in 1982; his class is known as the Fifth Generation of China's film industry. Among his contemporaries were Chen Keige (Farewell to My Concubine,, 1992) and Tian Zhuangzhuang (Blue Kite, 1989). He worked together with his classmates, earning the reputation as a thorough cinematographer before turning his hand to directing.
Zhang Yimou's debut as a director was Red Sorghum, (1988), starring Zhang's future lover Gong Li. Gong was a 22-year-old acting student at the time. She nearly did not get the role in the film due to her figure.
"At first we thought she might be a bit too thin. But when we made her up, she was the very woman we were looking for." said Zhang to Premiere magazine in 1994.
Gong ended up as a star in eight of Zhang's films over the next nine years.
"Red Sorghum is an open statement aimed at an authoritarian society," said Rayya.
The film, which won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival, is about a housewife who protested her husband's suffering.
The film crystallized the trademark of the protagonist in Zhang Yimou's film. In his films, the main character is always suffering, they often end up either dying or going mad. Most are victimized women who try to fight their destiny, and fail, Rayya explained.
Their struggle is never pretty, yet Zhang has always been able to weave the story into a beautiful moving pictures.
"The strength of Zhang's films is that they are visually rich. He is a master of manipulating color in his works," said Rayya.
Color is a dominating factor in both Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou (especially fabric), Rayya said by way of illustration.
Gong is a genius at acting melodramatic characters. Besides her roles in Zhang's films, she is also well known for her role in Farewell to My Concubine. Her beauty and her mastery of the art of the struggling woman has gained her praise from the world's film community.
The three-day festival at Theater Utan Kayu in East Jakarta starts on Friday with Red Sorghum and To Live, followed by Ju Dou and The Story of Qiu Ju on Saturday, and Raise the Red Lantern and Shanghai Triad on Sunday.
A five-day Teguh Karya film week also starts on Friday. Taking place at the Usmar Ismail Film Center, Kuningan, South Jakarta, the event will consist of screenings of Teguh's film and, on the last day, a film discussion by cinematoographers.
For more information on Theater Utan Kayu, contact 021 857 3388 and for the Teguh Karya Film Week, contact 021 526 8455.