Under The Hawthorn Tree

Zhang Yimou

The story: During the Cultural Revolution in China, high school senior Jing (Zhou Dongyu) is sent from the city to learn from peasants in a remote village. The place is famous for a hawthorn tree whose flowers are said to bloom red instead of white as the blood of martyrs have drenched the soil. A chaste romance between her and a soldier, Sun (Shawn Dou) blooms while she is there.

China auteur Zhang Yimou is known for uncovering fresh-faced ingenues in his films.

First was Gong Li in Red Sorghum (1987) and then there was Zhang Ziyi in The Road Home (1999). Both have gone on to achieve widespread acclaim and international recognition in movies such as To Live (1994) and House Of Flying Daggers (2004).

Which means, if all goes well, there is much for newcomer Zhou Dongyu, still just 18, to look forward to.

She slips easily into the role of Jing, who blossoms from a timid innocent to someone who fights for her happiness. Time will tell if this is just shrewd casting or if Zhou really has the acting chops to go far.

More unusual for Zhang is the presence of a potential breakout male star in the film. Shawn Dou’s role as Sun brings to mind Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack in Titanic (1997), an earnest and irresistibly good guy with no darkness in him whatsoever.

With the film resting on their slender shoulders, he and Zhou bring a touching believability to this tale of young love, which is adapted from the 2007 novel by Ai Mi, Hawthorn Tree Forever.

The Cultural Revolution drives a wedge between the two young lovers given their different political backgrounds. But the repressed nature of society then makes this pure love story possible.

It is hard to imagine such a wholesome tale, with the chastest bed scene, taking place in this time and clime.

Of course no one is hankering after any good old days of the Cultural Revolution.

The final image of the hawthorn flowers in full, white bloom is a poignant and defiant rebuke to the lies and myths of that turbulent time.

(ST)