The following will briefly analyze the three time points in the film and the corresponding Chinese narratives.
(1) In 1999, some people became rich first, which
was not only a love triangle between Zhao Tao, Zhang Yi and Liang Jingdong, but also the beginning of class differentiation. Zhang Jinsheng, played by Zhang Yi, got rich first by doing business (oil, coal mine). This was a typical way of "getting rich first" at that time, buying and selling during China's transition from a planned economy to a market economy. The rich Zhang Yi drives a red Santana and is busy "packing money in sacks". He is smart and resolute, but he also has a reckless spirit all over him.
Liang Jingdong was just a small miner. Although he seemed to be more in tune with Zhao Tao, in the end Zhao Tao chose Zhang Yi.
(2) In 2014, the rich were prosperous, the middle class was struggling, and the bottom class fell
. In 1999, the class was divided, and in 2014, the class was solidified.
Zhang Yi symbolizes the wealthy class. Divorced from Zhao Tao, he went to Shanghai to make a name for himself. I am planning to send my son Zhang Dale (meaning dollar) to study abroad, and the whole family has plans to immigrate.
Although Zhao Tao divorced Zhang Yi, he also became a small boss and lived a decent life. However, his father died, and his son was awarded to his husband. Liang Jingdong, who had a crush on him, returned to his hometown, but he was a different person. She has nothing but the material life of Shang Ke, which is not only the plight of a middle-aged woman, but also a metaphor for the spiritual plight of the middle class.
Liang Jingdong, a small miner who went down for a long time, contracted cancer and required chemotherapy and hospitalization. Bringing his wife and children back to their hometown, the family has four walls. He has always worked hard, but he has not been able to escape poverty, and now he is seriously ill and his life is hanging by a thread.
In a word, the rich are rich, the middle class is struggling, and the bottom is falling.
(3) In 2025, leaving China, China that cannot go back
Zhang Yi and his son Zhang Dale (played by Dong Zijian) settled in Australia. But Zhang Yi couldn't adapt to the life here. In the movie, he had such a line (to the effect): "In China, private guns are not allowed. In Australia, you can, but I bought a lot of guns and have no enemies. What's the use of freedom?" He The relationship with his son was tense, and the two couldn't even communicate. The son didn't speak Chinese, and he didn't know how to speak English. Zhang Yi was lonely and desolate in a foreign country, but there was so much filth in the process of accumulating his wealth that the motherland could no longer tolerate him.
Zhang Aijia plays Dong Zijian's teacher. In the film, she is a Hong Kong native who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and is now in Australia. Here, she has no friends, always misses her mother, but never goes back. This is actually the mentality of the ups and downs of Hong Kong people after their return.
The richest connotation is Dong Zijian - because he is a symbol of Chinese youth. He left China to Australia at the age of 7, and "mother/China" is a very distant concept for him. Therefore, in Australia, he does not speak his native language. When someone asks the names of his parents, he answers that he is a test tube baby and has no parents. He tries to reject everything about "mother/China".
But he is also full of affection for "mother/China". He always had the key to his home left by his mother when he was 7 years old on his neck; he was deeply fascinated by Zhang Aijia, because some of Zhang Aijia's actions reminded him of his mother; he hugged Zhang Aijia and shed tears and told everything about his mother, who is the deepest Secrets are also the most tender nostalgia.
Is he willing to go back to China to find his mother? Under Zhang Aijia's persuasion, he was ready to do so. But at the last minute, he gave up. Because when buying air tickets, others mistakenly thought that his relationship with Zhang Aijia was a mother-son relationship (in fact, they were lovers). At this moment, he felt ashamed. He suddenly found that it was difficult for him to introduce his relationship with Zhang Aijia to others, just as it was difficult for him to admit to others that he was a child of "parents/motherland". He loves her, but he can't accept her.
Whether it is Zhang Yi, Zhang Aijia or the younger generation of Dong Zijian, they have different attitudes towards the motherland, but they have reached the same destination through different paths, just like the meaning of the soundtrack "GO WEST" at the beginning and end of the movie: they have all left China, and neither of them can go back to China.
So, what about Zhao Tao who is still in China? She is old and still lives alone in a big empty house, only the dog is still with her. In the last scene, in the snow, she dances alone.
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