The film takes place in a rural village in China's eastern province of Shandong during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It is narrated from the point of view of the protagonist’s grandson, who reminisces about his grandmother, Jiu'er. She was a poor girl who was sent by her parents into a pre-arranged marriage with an old man, Li Datou, who owns a distillery. As Jiu'er's wedding party crosses a field of sorghum, they are attacked by a bandit. One of the men hired to carry Jiu'er's sedan chair manages to fight off the assailant. After Jiu'er safely reaches the distillery, her rescuer, whom she has been eyeing during the trip, disappears. During Jiu'er's trip back to her parents' village, he jumps out of the sorghum field and, after chasing down Jiu'er, carries her off into the sorghum stalks and rapes her. At the distillery, it is discovered that Li Datou has died of mysterious causes, leading many of the distillery's workers to suspect murder. Nothing is proven, however, and since Jiu'er's late husband was without heir, it is she who takes ownership of the distillery, which has recently fallen on hard times. She inspires the workers to take new pride in their wine. One day, Jiu'er's lover and the narrator's grandfather becomes drunk and loudly insists to the group of men accompanying him that he is going to share her bed. When he enters the bedroom, however, she, embarrassed, tosses him out. The other men on the scene carry him away, sticking him in a vat of liquor where he remains for the next three days. Meanwhile, a group of bandits kidnap Jiu'er, forcing the distillery workers to pay a ransom for her freedom. After emerging from the vat, the narrator's grandfather witnesses the worn down Jiu'er. The narrator's grandfather goes to confront the leader of the bandits, demanding to know whether the leader raped Jiu'er. The leader said he did not rape Jiu'er, because Jiu'er told the leader that she already slept with the disease-ridden old man Li Datou. The narrator's grandfather returns, but takes out his anger on the workers by urinating into four vats of liquor. To the clan's surprise, the urine somehow makes the liquor taste better than ever. Its product newly improved, the distillery begins to see financial success. The War begins and Imperial Japanese Army troops invade the area. The Japanese soldiers then torture and kill Jiu'er's friend Luohan, a respected distillery worker. Jiu'er incites the workers to avenge his death. In the early dawn, they hide themselves in the sorghum field, prepared to ambush the Japanese military vehicles the moment they pass by. While waiting, however, the workers become distracted by hunger. When Jiu'er is informed of this by her young child, she brings out some lunch for the workers. Arriving just as the Japanese soldiers do, Jiu'er is shot and killed in the chaotic skirmish that ensues, and the explosive traps meant for the Japanese trucks end up killing almost everyone at the scene. Only the narrator's grandfather and father manage to survive the encounter.
Cast
Gong Li as "My Grandma"
Jiang Wen as "My Grandpa"
Ji Chunhua as Sanbao the bandit chieftain
Teng Rujun as Uncle Luohan
Style
Like Zhang's later film, The Road Home, Red Sorghum is narrated by the main characters' grandson, but Red Sorghum lacks the flashbackframing device of The Road Home. The cinematography by cinematographerGu Changwei makes use of rich, intense colors. Zhang himself was a cinematographer prior to his directorial debut, and worked closely with Gu.
Reception
Upon its release, Red Sorghum garnered international acclaim, most notably winning the coveted Golden Bear at the 1988 Berlin International Film Festival. Roger Ebert said, in his review and synopsis in Chicago Sun-Times, "There is a strength in the simplicity of this story, in the almost fairy-tale quality of its images and the shocking suddenness of its violence, that Hollywood in its sophistication has lost." Others, such as Wang Yichuan, pointed to the director's fascination with the "strongman," and found hints of "fascist aesthetics" in the film.
