Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A Critical Review
The film “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” directed by Dai Sijie is a depiction of life during Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” in early 1970’s China. Various aspects of the film shall be criticized in order to successfully compare and contrast the film’s views of life during Mao’s Proletarian Cultural Revolution in relation with the true historic experiences of the people experiencing this movement.
Perhaps one of the most powerful aspects of this film in expressing the attitudes and values of people living throughout this period is the selection of setting. The setting takes place in a Mao re-education camp located in a highly remote and mountainous region of China. Re-education camps were formed in order to abolish any negative criticism against government or party policy. Individuals who were believed to be harboring counter-revolutionary ideas, which were something very serious and even criminal at the time, were forced into these camps to perform tiring manual labor (Buoye et al. 106). The goal of these re-education camps was to make the accused “counter-revolutionist”, often a younger generation of people, appreciate their comfortable and modern lifestyles in contrast with the hard and difficult lives of pre-Mao lifestyle and peasantry labor. We are introduced to two of the three main characters of the film at this re-education camp, Ma and Luo. Both Ma and Luo, like many of that time, were accused of being the sons of “reactionary intellectuals” and sent to the camp to discourage their believed defiance and disagreement with the government. By the combination of making these two characters victims of government persecution because of individual thought and placing them in re-educational work camps, the story accurately portrays a common occurence of China life under Mao’s rule.
Another property of Mao rule during this time which is truthfully depicted in the movie is the censorship of knowledge in media. After the tremendous failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao believed he needed rejuvenation in the Party in order to strengthen public support and maintain Party leadership. He therefore called upon China’s people, especially the youth, to form “Red Guard” armies and attack anyone thought to be disloyal of Mao in either practice or thought (107). This formation of Red Guard armies led to the alienation of China’s top intellectuals and gave government control in all facets of life including one’s clothing style, hair style, music selection, and what books one could and could not read (108). The movie reveals this strict control of daily life during the scene of property screening when Ma and Luo first arrive at the camp. When the village chief discovers Luo’s cookbook, which contains a recipe for the careful preperation of a chicken dinner, he orders it to be thrown in the fire and that everyone must eat the same and equal food in order for the greater good of the community. Ma’s violin was to suffer the same fate as he cookbook until he informed the chief that it wasn’t a toy, but rather a musical instrument. Ma reasoned to save the violin for entertainment purposes, by playing a piece of Mozart to which the chief and village people took to their enjoyment. Once he was complete with his performance, Ma states that Mozart “was thinking of Chairman Mao”, seeking approval from the chief. This sort of statement was common throughout the period, proving to government officials and Red Guards your loyalty and constant regard for Mao. Through this scene, director Dai Sijie accurately brings to us the rhetoric and behavior one had to abide to in order to live in such a society.
Lastly another element of life exposed to us in the film is the difference of opinion in personal belongings between those of the remote village and those of modern citizens. After being caught spying on the local girls bathing, Luo and Ma meet “The Little Seamstress”, a beautiful young woman who had grown up in the area and was a granddaughter to a tailor. Shortly after meeting Luo and Ma the Little Seamstress took one of their most valued possessions, an alarm clock, and dismantled it in order to examine how it functioned. When Luo and Ma return to find their clock in numerous pieces, the Little Seamstress expresses no shame in taking the clock without permission and states that she will pay them back. In a later scene, discovering that she has a collection of model wooden airplanes, Luo asks the Little Seamstress if he could perhaps have one. She seems somewhat surprised by his question and responds saying, “Why do you ask? Just take it.” Through these two scenes we can see that Ma and Luo, as modern citizens, view property as personal while the Little Seamstress, as a villager, views property as everyone’s owernship. This discrepancy of opinion in property stems from dissimilar educational upbringings. Ma and Luo, growing up in a more educated society with access to books and newspapers, were well aware of individual property and not reliant on other people to survive. The Little Seamstress, however, grew up in a remote village devoid of books and access to outside knowledge; and so communism propaganda would have been more easily accepted. Because of the remote area and limited resources, communism was more a requirement than an option and viewed as a positive form of society rather than negative. These scenes do an excellant job of expressing how the different peoples of China, dependent on their age and location, interpreted and accepted government influence on their individual lifestyles and society throughout this time.
A truth that seems to escape this movie in contrast to the previously mentioned accurate situations is the harsh reality of actually living on a re-education camp. The film had only briefly shown manual labor performed by Ma and Luo transporting heavy buckets of fertilizer and waste up the mountainside to the farming areas. The majority of the movie then focuses on their interest in books and leisure, spending time reading and teaching the Little Seamstress, and enjoying conversation with other villagers. The movie eventually transforms itself into a love story between the Little Seamstress and Luo. It is in these scenes of leisure and enjoyment that director Sijie fails to portray true life while living on these exhaustive and intensive re-education camps.
The film “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” directed by Dai Sijie is an intimate and generally clear depiction of life during Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” in early 1970’s China. Although life during this time may not have been as effortless or romantical as the film depicts it to be, the film still contains many view of life during Mao’s Proletarian Cultural Revolution that were true in relation with the historic experiences of the people living through this period and in doing so serves as an admirable window into this period of Chinese living and culture.
July 31st, 2007 at 11:02 am
I did not know there was a film made of this book. I read the book years ago and enjoyed it immensely. It maybe one my favorite books of all time. Your review was excellent. Sounds like the movie is very true to the book which doesn’t always happen these days.
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Great overview of the movie. I’m teaching this book to my Grade 12’s this year (in Mexico) and I stumbled across your resource. Good job. Good luck with the Korean girlfriend hehe…
Peace.
Michael.