moments of Jose's life

Release date(s)
- Cannes : May 20, 2007

- United States :March 12, 2008

Directed by : Li Yang

Written by : Li Yang

Language : Shaanxi dialect

Plot Outline : A young woman, Bai Xuemei, in the early 1990s who recently graduated from college and attempts to find work to help pay for her brother's education. In the process, she is drugged, kidnapped and sold as a bride to a villager in the Qinling Mountains of China's Shaanxi province. Trapped in the fiercely traditional town, the young woman finds that her avenues of escape are all blocked. She suffers from being raped by her "husband" and continued beatings at the hands of the villagers, her husband, and her husbands' parents.

Even though psychologically prepared, I still found this movie heavier than expected, 0% for entertainment but 100% for conveying social message and showing the naked truth of reality. Particularly when I knew it was written based on real life stories, it was not hard to get connected emotionally.

How ironic life was! Villagers threw away new born baby girls but resorted to pay huge amount to buy their sons brides from outside. And the government officials and cops from the civilised community either turned a blind eye to the problem or were lacking of strength to save the victims from the violent hands of the illiterate villagers. This film, while cut to the heart of the problem, offered no solution to it. It was all up to the audience to decide what to do next.

Release date(s)

- Hong Kong : November 8, 2007
- United States : November 9, 2007
Directed by : Robert Redfort
Written by : Matthew Michael Carnahan

Language : English
Plot Outline : Two determined university students, Arian and Ernest, follow the inspiration of their idealistic professor, Dr. Malley, and attempt to do something important with their lives. But when the two make the bold decision to join the battle in Afghanistan, Malley is both moved and distraught. Now, as Arian and Ernest fight for survival in the field, they become the string that binds together two disparate stories on opposite sides of America. In California, an anguished Dr. Malley attempts to reach a privileged but disaffected student. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. the charismatic Presidential hopeful, Senator Jasper Irving, is about to give a bombshell story to a probing TV journalist that may affect Arian and Ernest's fates.

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Looking at the casts, Robert Redfort (羅拔烈福), Meryl Streep (梅麗史翠普) and Tom Cruise (湯告魯斯), the director seriously needed to try hard letting not the story overwhelmed by the charm of these super stars. And he did it. It was a movie loaded with thoughts and reflections about politics, media moral and living purpose. I agreed with one movie critic that it was like an open letter to the USA government with views on the lessons learnt from the battles in Iraq. Only that it was a bit too complicated and too fast for a non-USA audience to follow.

I like the movie tagline which summarised well the key message it tried to get across:

"If you don't STAND for something, you might FALL for anything."

The entire movie, as it unfolded, challenged the audience to step out of the comfort zone and do the right thing. Overall, I valued the sincere effort of the movie production and inspired by the meaningful scripts.