The Road Home (Wo de fu qin mu qin) 1999

City businessman Luo Yusheng returns to his home village in North China for the funeral of his father, the village teacher. He finds his elderly mother insisting that all the traditional burial customs be observed, despite the fact that times have changed so much, and that it involves many people carrying his father's body back to the village - "the road home". As Yusheng debates the complications involved in organising such a big feat, he remembers the magical story of how his father and mother first met and got together.

Director: Zhang Yimou

Stars: Zhang Ziyi, Sun Honglei, Zhang Hao

JDramaMama's Rating: A+

What a wonderful film! Zhang Ziyi is delightful in this simple, beautiful and heartwarming story. I cried watching this gem of a film. Told by the son who comes home for his father's funeral, he relates the special love his parents had. His twenty year old father was the new school teacher of a small village and from the first time his eighteen year old mother laid eyes on him, she fell in love. The father goes away to the city and is caught up in the Cultural Revolution and doesn't return for two years. The mother sits by the road side EVERY day, waiting for his return. When she nearly dies waiting on his return he comes to see her and it costs them two more years apart. It is the first marriage in the village based on love. Director Zhang wisely uses black and white photography in the present day and beautiful color for the memories to contrast the present sorrow to the joy of the past. I know of no one who has seen this film who has not praised it. It is truly a work of art!

#China #drama #family #romance