Ambivalence
Western picturehouse films, while having their own qualities, can never possess the wholesome sentimental feel certain Chinese films have. Earlier on having a need to lounge on the sofa I caught the second half of A World Without Thieves on tv. Wasn't impressed initially, it looked and felt like some second-rate show, but because of andy lau I was intrigued and went on watching. Very touched in the end.
It's about a thief-couple, the skillful vagabond kind. Being a thief he wants to steal some money from a young, naive guy on a train. Being pregnant with their child she wants to stop all this thieving business and do some good for once, so she decides to protect the guy and his savings he was carrying about with him (see the wikipedia link for more information). He managed to steal the money from another thief who stole it first, but she persuaded him to return it to the victim in the end after revealing that she has his child. They decided to protect the victim from the other thieves.
To cut a long story short, police were on board too and a detective went to apprehend the couple. They didn't resist, knowing there's no point in resisting. They have a talk. Having much respect for them as he knew they were protecting the guy, the detective decides to leave them alone in the carriage to spend their last moments together, because after being arrested they would never see each other again. They had one last request: do not tell the young man that he had been surrounded by so many thieves.
In their time together the female breaks into tears and they decide that a prison was no way to give birth to a child. They decide to escape. When they almost made it out of the train however, they discover the leader of the other thieves stealing from the young guy again, himself having escaped the clutches of the police. She says they have to help the young guy, he tells her no they need to escape. He tells her that the child is more important and he would stay back to settle the issue with the leader. She relents and escapes. He has a 1v1 with the leader, and unfortunately for all his skills he got outmatched in the end. He died.
The show ended with a fast-forward five months later, where the female was sitting in a restaurant eating and waiting for him. He didn't appear, the detective did, and she knew that he did not make it. The show's last scene showed a flashback of what happened on the train. In his dying moments the male thief managed to return the money back to the victim, who was asleep at the time. He was discovered dead by the detective, who found a handphone lying near him with an unsent text message saying that he had settled the issue with the guy and that he hoped he would see her soon.
Very very very touching. The concept of bad people wanting a new, normal life but having their past catch up with them, dragging them back, dragging them down, is a concept that will never recede in its poignancy.
Chinese shows like this very often, I believe, split its audience into two distinct camps. Some may find them cheesy, overly melodramatic. Others may find transcandent beauty in them, their imagery, the language, the concepts. I like The Banquet, but dislike Warlords and The Curse of the Stupid Flower. When I first watched Hero I found it unimpressive, I found it very dramatic. The second time I watched it I thought it was good. It's like reading that newspaper report of a young boy in China leaving his sister to drown in a river. When interviewed by reporters and asked why he did that he replied that living is such a painful thing, and that she is better off dead.
It's about a thief-couple, the skillful vagabond kind. Being a thief he wants to steal some money from a young, naive guy on a train. Being pregnant with their child she wants to stop all this thieving business and do some good for once, so she decides to protect the guy and his savings he was carrying about with him (see the wikipedia link for more information). He managed to steal the money from another thief who stole it first, but she persuaded him to return it to the victim in the end after revealing that she has his child. They decided to protect the victim from the other thieves.
To cut a long story short, police were on board too and a detective went to apprehend the couple. They didn't resist, knowing there's no point in resisting. They have a talk. Having much respect for them as he knew they were protecting the guy, the detective decides to leave them alone in the carriage to spend their last moments together, because after being arrested they would never see each other again. They had one last request: do not tell the young man that he had been surrounded by so many thieves.
In their time together the female breaks into tears and they decide that a prison was no way to give birth to a child. They decide to escape. When they almost made it out of the train however, they discover the leader of the other thieves stealing from the young guy again, himself having escaped the clutches of the police. She says they have to help the young guy, he tells her no they need to escape. He tells her that the child is more important and he would stay back to settle the issue with the leader. She relents and escapes. He has a 1v1 with the leader, and unfortunately for all his skills he got outmatched in the end. He died.
The show ended with a fast-forward five months later, where the female was sitting in a restaurant eating and waiting for him. He didn't appear, the detective did, and she knew that he did not make it. The show's last scene showed a flashback of what happened on the train. In his dying moments the male thief managed to return the money back to the victim, who was asleep at the time. He was discovered dead by the detective, who found a handphone lying near him with an unsent text message saying that he had settled the issue with the guy and that he hoped he would see her soon.
Very very very touching. The concept of bad people wanting a new, normal life but having their past catch up with them, dragging them back, dragging them down, is a concept that will never recede in its poignancy.
Chinese shows like this very often, I believe, split its audience into two distinct camps. Some may find them cheesy, overly melodramatic. Others may find transcandent beauty in them, their imagery, the language, the concepts. I like The Banquet, but dislike Warlords and The Curse of the Stupid Flower. When I first watched Hero I found it unimpressive, I found it very dramatic. The second time I watched it I thought it was good. It's like reading that newspaper report of a young boy in China leaving his sister to drown in a river. When interviewed by reporters and asked why he did that he replied that living is such a painful thing, and that she is better off dead.
3 Comments:
You didn't read it in the newspapers. I told you about it.
Any comments on why she gave away the baby at the end?
Who is this?
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