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List Price: $19.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 23912
Released: March 28, 2006 |
| Our Price: $6.87 |
| Used Price: $6.90 |
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A humorous fable of justice that traverses shot in the north of China. Gong Li plays Qiu Ju a tenacious farmer determined to right a wrong done to her husband. Defying all stereotypes of the passive Chinese woman she remains unbowed by the frustrations of bureaucracy in her quixotic search for dignity.System Requirements:Run Time: 100 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: FOREIGN/LATIN Rating: PG UPC: 043396141124 Manufacturer No: 14112
Description of The Story of Qiu Ju:
The kick is never shown, but the entire film is based around it. It's winter in the remote Shaanxi province. Pregnant Qiu Ju (Gong Li, 2046) is married to laidback farmer Qinglai (Liu Pei Qi). When village chief Wang (Lei Lao Sheng) kicks him during an argument, she sets out to ensure that her husband receives medical attention--and justice. Clad in a bulky jacket, face partially obscured by a thick scarf, the strong-willed woman, joined by sister-in-law Meizi (Yang Liu Chun), travels far and wide to find someone who can coerce Wang to apologize (she asked, he refused). All agree the chief was in the wrong, but each authority with whom she meets hands her off to another. Along the way, the couple is offered financial compensation (for medical care and lost wages), but an apology is as elusive as a dragonfly in December. Taking cues from both Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Vittorio De Sica (Bicycle Thieves), Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers) presents modern-day China as a country where bureaucrats run the show and the citizens--especially the women--must suffer the consequences. Fortunately, some are more persistent than others, and The Story of Qiu Ju is far from tragic. Just as their fifth pairing represents one of Yimou's rare contemporary efforts, the dressed-down title character is also an anomaly for Li, his real-life love at the time. The risk paid off and the result is one of their most cherished collaborations. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
The Story of Qiu Ju Reviews:
Persistence Pays 
2009-11-19 - Of this Movie, Janet Mason from The New York Times says, "SUPERB...The story of Qiu Ju reaffirms Zhang Yimou's stature as a story teller and visual artist of exceptional delicacy and insight". International film sensation GONG LI (Memoirs of a Geisha) gives a luminous performance as Qiu Ju, a stoic peasant woman who demands an apology when her husband is humiliated by the village Chief. But the Chief is a headstrong man who refuses to apologise, sending Qiu Ju on a futile trek through the complicated Chinese judicial system. From her small village, to a nearby city and finally to the large and impersonal district court, hers is a universal battle against bureaucracy and indifference. Winner of Best Picture and Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival, THE STORY OF QIU JU is "funny, touching, surprising, provocative and entertaining every step of the way".-David Sterritt, The Christian Science Monitor.
Another brilliant window into China
2009-10-24 - I have been impressed by all the films that I have seen directed by Zhang Yimou. In his films I not only have learned a great deal about China but have also been reminded or instructed about universal truths.
"The Story of Qiu Ju" brings the viewer into rural China and the perspective of a farming and tradition-minded populace interacting with Communist governance, including the limitations on child-bearing, the police and legal system, and the new, growing urban culture. I have a richer and I suspect accurate impression of China as a result of Zhang Yimou's intelligent artistry.
Alongside this almost documentary-like (yet superior to any documentary I can think of) portrayal of contemporary China, the director also presents a deeply moving and instructive account of the consequences of harmful human behaviors, behaviors that most of us (all of us?) indulge in frequently with little thought to the pain we are causing those around us. In Qui Ju the circumstances are comic and would remain so did we not see how sadly they play out at the film's end. A refusal by the village leader to apologize for hurting a man coupled with an equally stubborn refusal by the man's wife Qiu Ju to let go of her grievance bears bitter fruit for all concerned.
It is not the stuff of major tragedy but rather the expression of real, every day minor tragedies that makes "The Story of Qiu Ju" so poignant and powerful. See this film to learn more about China, but see it also to get a fresh vision of the sorrow of missed opportunities when people fail to forgive.
Full of beauty and suspense. . .but can we be aware of it
2009-09-29 - A beautiful, quiet movie full of significant conflict, of necessary rapprochement, of long-term loyalty. But, I worry, will today's audience see the beauty and sense the substance of this movie through the quiet?
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[An angry aside: What is happening film makers of the west? Why do I have to search so far(away from the trash--no temptation is the better word)far away from the comic book superheros, the special effects showcases, the remakes of remakes of mediocre movies, the overly-long adaptations of books (Dr. Suess's books!?!), of bathroom humor (have we graduated from 6th-grade yet?) . . .
A warning; a forecast: Eventually, I will disconnect the DVD player (or use it far less frequently; I have already disconnected the cable television.) and return solely to reading. But my optimistic self believes this is just what our overly-volted bodies now need. . .We need, as Clifton Fadiman wrote in The Lifetime Reading Plan, to "disenthrall" ourselves from the contemporary.]
A Masterpiece
2009-05-09 - The story is well told in many of the other reviews--Qiu Ju's husband has taunted the village chief who retaliated and kicked her husband in the groin and ribs. She is a peasant who undertakes a quest through the Chinese system of officials and courts, from village to city, seeking to compel the village chief to apologize. He turns out not to be a bad man, and most of the people--including the officials--are good people throughout the movie. There are many realistic pictures of people and village and city life in northwest China, and the story is compelling and interesting. What would be justice for this case? How does "losing face" affect these people? Is she right to do what she is doing? Unlike other reviewers, I was actually impressed with the quality of the justice system as portrayed, and her rights and ability to pursue one appeal after another, coupled with the practical nature of the remedies ordered by the officials and judges. There are some real twists at the end, as the viewer bounces from one surprise to another. The ending will make you think about Qiu Ju and this movie for a long time--it was already a great movie before the ending. Gong Li is a great actress, and Yimou Zhong is a great director. I now plan to see all their movies. This one also has humour--you will really be amused by the scene following where the peasants are told to dress like city people so as to avoid being the targets of criminals. This movie was the only movie added to our list of books to read before a Princeton University trip to China this summer. I am so glad.
Gong Li- Brilliant from the start
2009-04-05 - Gong Li is just a kid or young adult when she starred in this wonderful story with a great moral content. What's that you say? "Be careful what you wish for".
Gong is such a beauty yet she plays it so close to the heart as a peasant farm girl here. Her actions are deeply thought out and utterly natural in execution. I was marveling at this woman's talent. She's now at the very pinnacle of her profession in China and it is so easy to see why even in this early effort.
Terrific good looks and a talent that is pure genius. Yes, I love this woman.
Don't you?
