The protagonist is a law-abiding patrol policeman in the late Qing Dynasty. The 21-year-old is unemployed and introduced by the neighbor uncle Zhao who is also a patrol policeman into the police force and witnessed the corruption of government and the fate of ordinary people. The entire film is visually expanded from the protagonist.
Even though after 60 years since the film is made, the movie does not have any out-of-date elements. Not only actors' performances are natural and vivid, the topic covered is still one of the major concerns of the modern society. The film stand on the point that only the civilization and people’s political consciousness can bring the freedom and equality to the society otherwise the history will only repeat itself under the dominance of the rich and powerful.
Background
The movie adapted from Lao She's novel of the same name. Lao She is a great writer with the creation of their own unique style and artistic personality. Shi Hui is the director also the main actor of this film, who creates the film faithfully according to the original novel and even develops the original to a great extent. Life experiences of both Shi Hui and Lao She have many similarities, common life experiences similar artistic temperament, making the stone play adaptation of Lao She's works come from a confidence and calm that others cannot match.
Lao She's original novel covers the period from 1909 to 1921. In order to exhibit a more sweeping film for the historical term, Shi Hui extended the story all the way to 1949 and the Communist victory.
Synopsis
"The life of mine" describes the story of an ordinary patrol policeman’s life in the late Qing Dynasty. The policeman has been worked as commissionaire for a powerful family, the Qin family. In 1919, in the event of outbreak of the May Fourth Movement, the policeman gets to know a student leader Shen Yuan and become good friends. A few years later, Qin family is growing stronger and wealthier, but the people are starting to become even poorer. In a few years’ time, the policeman is reduced to a lower class. His wife died and left a pair of daughter and son.
In the war of resistance against Japan, the policeman rescues the underground Communist Party Shen Yuan. And his son participates in the Army to fight against Japanese. However, the policeman is locked up in prison because of his son, and meets with Shen Yuan in the prison. Under Shen Yuan’s mentoring, the policeman starts to recognize and rethink his past life. I died in the streets as the ending of the movie.
The Movie spans over 40 years, records the rapid transformation of the Chinese history, from the fall of the Qing Dynasty, then warlords came to power, to the Sino-Japanese War, eventually reach to the collapse of KMT (the Kuomintang national party). It supposedly is a big change for China after forty years of revolution, but it appears that it is still the same group of people who are in power and this confuses our old policeman because his naive and ignorance of politic.The revolution is booming but the people’s life is still diminishing each day. Large landowners became major warlords then the warlords become national traitors, later on those traitors turn into wealthy magnate. However, the people at the bottom of the society still remain the same. When the Japanese invaders have gone away, people thought the traitor will be severely punished and life may start to leap, but in fact, nothing indeed is changing but from one dominator to another. If the people do not fight back for their own right, the wheel of history will never move forward.
Interpretation of roles and scenes
Play in the aesthetic style of the film as the film's director, Shi Hui inherited progressive movie realist tradition in all aspect such as true performance of the environment, the atmosphere, the characters emotions and other. In order to obtain the real living of the old time, location, old patrol of the streets of Beijing in the movie the policeman chasing a tricycle beggar scene, are all captured in the actual places. Figure’s attires are strictly in accordance with life as it is. The clothes are mostly the old clothes that were bought from people and which they worn in the old days.
The uses of film techniques are also proficient and smooth. In the beginning of the film, accompanied by the policeman voice, the lens slowly sliding panoramic view of Beijing's major attractions, and stopped in an electric pole, then down along the pole, the policeman appears on a narrow street. The audiences quickly enter into the story scenarios by introducing the environmental background atmosphere. It is neat and clear.
It only takes four shots to explain that Shi Hui is going to become a patrol policeman: the first shot, the wife tells that you have to cut the braid if chosen. In the second shot, the braids sheared. In the next shot, the policeman is wearing police uniform. And the last one, the policeman stands in the patrol queue and all dressed up.
Shi Hui is also good at using the contrast montage. A shot that one of the mistress in the Qin family is asking for a 50 Yuan bottle of imported perfume, then the shot move away from the mistress, skip to a poor family (Sun Yuan’s family) while a traffickers is forcing the housewife to sold her son for the price of 30 Yuan to treat sick Sun Yuan and the house wife has no choice but to tearfully accepted the money. The comparison made by the montage visually indicates the purpose of the director and as well as the people’s miserable life in the old society.
A lot of lines in the movie now seem like prophecy.
"Students will be out (fight against them), if officials are still breaking their words.”
"It says also really strange, no matter who is in power, how nice what he said, whatever republican, equality, freedom he talks. No matter what, bad luck is always belonging to the people. So called democracy, freedom, etiquette that is such a humor! "
Shi Hui’s technique pursuits simplicity. For example, the shot that when patrol’s wife died, the use of three opened the curtain lens to switch between the two seats, has a clear account of both time and different circumstances. The shot that Haifu’s wife is captured by the Japanese as the comfort women is also shockingly dramatic.
The kind of bitter humor and life are always filmed together. For example, the policeman and colleagues is trying to blind date their children, the old couple sitting on the bed, two children mutual peeped and flirted with each other. Another example happens when the policeman is guarding in front of the Qin family and whispering about Qin family’s life of luxury living while kept giving out guests salute even to the Qin family’s chef. The natural habit of action makes people laugh and at the same time feels a little bitter and heavy.
The last concern involves the final scene. Should the policeman die alone on the street without seeing the happiness of the society after victory. Or should he be allowed to show up with his son in the victory parade? Although the film ended up with the first way, a happy ending with a grand screenplay is more desirable.［ Paul G. Pickowicz. China on film (a century of exploration, confrontation, and controversy). Littlefield publishers, 2012, Print］
The end
The most distinctive concern of this film is the depiction of the public ordinary people suffering at the bottom of the society. The film objectively reproduces the tragic fate and miserable life of ordinary people, especially the ordinary people living in the bottom of society. Little people can reflect the history. All of those characters in the film are just tiny part of the history, the policeman, the patrol Zhao, Sun Yuan, Shen Yuan, Haifu. If people do not have consciousness, the history is always played under the ridiculous domination by the wealthy and powerful. If people awake, there would be real freedom and equality. The end of the film is the background of Chinese map with a breezing army's flag, which indicates that the future is bright.
