living hard

Wilfred 2022-10-20 14:58:13

This film has a certain epic quality, which is packaged under the fate of individuals and families, and at the same time, there is a hint of sympathy and sad black humor. The personal living state and suffering of the film, in the simplified historical background, reflect the joys and sorrows of the little people and the absurdity of the times. The ending of the film, though mild, is thought-provoking. Fugui's life is a gradual process of evolution. The film also has mild satire on the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The despair, helplessness, and powerlessness in the film are transformed in black humor and become the Chinese people's enduring in a difficult state of existence.

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Extended Reading

To Live quotes

  • Xu Fugui: What did you name our son?

    Xu Jiazhen: "Don't Gamble".

  • Xu Fugui: If Youqing does as daddy says, our lives will get better and better. Our family is like a little chicken. When it grows up, it becomes a goose and that will turn into a sheep. The sheep will turn into an ox.

    Xu Youqing: And after the ox?

    Xu Fugui: After the ox is Communism, and there will be dumplings and meat every day.