FREE ON CINEGEEK.De Zhang Yimou - The Road Home 

Everything in Zhang Yimou's tender The Road Home is so perfectly composed and seamlessly put together! The Berlinale winner is a simple, lyrical ballad with a score reminiscent of James Horner's Titanic soundtrack. If you pay close attention, you will even recognise a Titanic poster right at the beginning of the film - so we may speak of a quote here. Zhang Yimou, who belongs to China's famous 5th generation of directors, began his work as a cinematographer. His feeling for the colours and moods of nature give the love story something universal. The action takes place in the hilly, untouched nature of northern China. Only a dirt road serves as a connection to the outside world. There is no electricity. Water is pumped from the well. We experience the change of seasons. The winter is grey-blue and when snow and cold threaten to swallow up everything, troublesome everyday thoughts recede into the background. It is a world of childlike wonder! We know this way of filming nature from Iranian cinema and its parables, which convey a similar awareness of nature. Outrageously beautiful are the camera shots of the village and the grain fields glowing in late summer. A sense of nostalgia takes hold of us, a touch of spirituality. The Road Home is about the purifying return to nature. This is where the two humble lovers live (while the cultural revolution rages outside somewhere). Time Jump. China here and now. The story begins with young engineer Luo Yusheng (Sun Honglei) returning to the village where he was born on the occasion of his father's death. His grieving mother insists that his father be buried according to the old custom. The wrapped body has to be carried on foot from the hospital back to the village. Via the only road that connects the village with the outside world. As Yusheng reflects on his father's death, he begins to remember his parents' marriage, their great love. While the China of today is illuminated in gloomy grey, the past now shines in the brightest colours. The mother Zhao Di (Zhang Ziyi), just 18 years old, falls in love at first sight with the handsome new village teacher from the city. His name is Luo Changyu (Zheng Hao). Di is the prettiest girl in the village. She resisted an arranged marriage. Changyu notices her interest and shyly returns it. The villagers now begin to build his schoolhouse. Meanwhile, Di lovingly weaves the red cloth for the curtains. Later, she will visit the school every day to hear his voice as he teaches. Zhang Ziyi plays Di, behind whose innocent façade lies obsessive passion. Di has realised her destiny and does not let anything or anyone stop her (certainly not advice that the gentleman from the city is nothing for a country girl). The chaste courtship turns into painful waiting when Changyu has to face a political interrogation in the city. Di waits and all her hopes are pinned on his return. She almost dies of fever while waiting by the road for the teacher to return.... But The Road Home is not a political film. It merely shows how political changes affect people like Di. The revolution may have turned the whole of China upside down, but here it is only a faint flicker on the wintry horizon.