WHITE DEER PLAIN

China, 2011, 188 minutes, Colour.
Fengyi Zhang, Gang Wu.
Directed by Quan’an Wang.

The film opens with waving wheatfields and closes with them. In between (for three hours), the audience is taken into decades of Chinese history, beginning with the revolution of 1911 (the subject of Jackie Chan’s centenary film titled 1911), indicating the changes which the country would experience after the defeat of the empire and the proclamation of the Republic.

For most of the film we remain in the village which is supervised by a spiritual leader who emphasises moral and humane values – but, we soon leave those values behind. In fact, while the history is important, it is the moral exploitation of characters that also commands attention.

The film is directed by award-winning, Qan’an Wang, adapted from a novel that government authorities had banned for some time (not just for the politics, but also for frank sexual episodes).

Three boys in 1911 grow into adults. One travels and is seduced by the wife of a rich man. They are discovered and exiled. They return to the village, are refused a wedding ceremony at the shrine of the ancestors by the village leader but allowed to live in a cave in the hills. He becomes caught up in 20s union movements, the execution of corrupt officials. He is enthused by the Communist philosophy of another of the young men. The third is the son of the spiritual leader who dutifully stays at home under the control of his father.

It is Xio’e, the woman who has been exiled who then becomes a catalyst for change, being whipped for misbehavior, condemned and then exploited by her father-in-law and then getting revenge on the leader’s son. Double standards are to the fore in the village’s dealings with her.

The audience needs to pay attention to times and characters to follow the action well – Chinese audiences will appreciate it more because of their knowledge of Chinese history. It is not an engaging film. Rather, despite the craft in its making, it becomes quite ugly in its portrayal of human nature, especially some of the crasser and earthier aspects of sexual behavior.


1. An epic film? The running time? The scope? The years of the 20th century? The range of characters? Change in China?

2. The adaptation of the novel, history, communism, government, government approval for the film (and the intense sex scenes of the novel adapted to the screen)?

3. The credits, the wheat fields, the end with the fields again? The focus on the work, getting in the harvest, the life of the peasants?

4. Life in the village in 1911? The leadership of Jiaxuan? The emphasis on moral and humane principles? The children in class, the recitations, the teacher with the strap, the children fooling around and throwing stones, reprimanded?

5. The three boys, as young, in school, growing up, the differences in their stories?

6. Jiaxuan and his strictness, Yu and his son, Zilin coming into the town and restoring order? Spiritual leadership? Political leadership? The role of the mayor?

7. 1911, the taxing of the wheat, the soldiers taking the wheat, the announcement of the president, a republic, the nature of the revolution?

8. Changing China, the soldiers and their imposition of their rule, the rebels?

9. The years passing, the seasons, especially the years of drought and starvation?

10. Hei Wai? His travelling, experience, work, the encounter with Xiao’e? Their talking, the seduction, the affair, the husband and his discovery, the punishment, their being ousted?

11. Hei Wai’s return, going to Jiaxuan to ask for a temple marriage, the refusal? Yu and his disowning his son? His travelling and being humiliated with the news about his son? Going to the cave, life in the cave, the pledge to each other? Hei Wai as a character? Xiao’e and her love, her reference to the brothel – and the indication of her policy, surviving, with the men?

12. Hei Wai and his friend, the professor at the primary school, his degree? His communistic principles, enthusiasm, the discussions, teaching the children? Hei Wai and his rounding up the protests? Forming the union? The decision to destroy the ancestral temple? The officials, their condemnation for corruption, the guillotine? His leaving?

13. The teacher fleeing, fourteen years passing, the 1920s, social change, revolution, morals?

14. Xiao’e and Gaudon, his mental abilities, his stalking Xiao’e, her being whipped? The denunciation? Xiaowen and his role in the town, his father, whipping Xiao’e?

15. The opera, the people watching, Xiao’e going out, leaing Xiaowen? The attempted seduction? Impotence? Her change of attitude? Xiaowen and his spying, saying the whipping enabled him to be free, free of his father? The sexual relationship with Xiao’e, his selling his property, gambling everything away, the loss, his father coming to plead with him and his defiance?

16. Yu, his attack on his daughter-in-law, his sexual behaviour, the coarseness, the denunciation, his hanging himself?

17. Jiaxuan and his son, his humiliation, no longer the leader, pleading for his son not to sell the property? Zilin and his offer?

18. Xiaowen, desperate, seeing the recruits, enlisting? His encounter with Yu, his giving him the food for Xiao’e?

19. The storm, the rain, the unsteady roof, the support? Yu and his murder of Xiao’e? The issue of building a pagoda, seeing her as the devil, wanting to destroy her influence?

20. The fate of Hei Wai, the communist party, becoming a gangster? The interaction with Xiaowen?

21. The need for Mao Tse Tung and the communist revolution? The optimistic and the pessimistic aspects of China in the 20th century?