Yellow Earth (U)

Director Cyfarwyddwr Chen Kaige
Starring Gyda Xue bai, Wang Xueqi, Tan Tuo
China Tsieina, 1984,
1 hour awr 29 minutes munud, subtitles isdeitlau

This evocative story of a young woman's search for personal freedom has the timeless simplicity, stark beauty, and universality of a folktale. In 1939, a Communist soldier visits a remote, backward village and is billeted with a taciturn widower and his family. The soldier's mission is to collect folk songs, and it's through the exchange of songs that he gradually wins the trust and affection of his hosts. All the soldier's talk of breaking with feudal tradition fills the teenage daughter of the family with unrealistic hopes of escaping her fate which is to be sold into marriage with a much older man. The soldier returns to his base, leaving her to take her future into her own hands . . . The first 'modern' film to emerge from China, for his thrilling debut Chen Kaige (and his cinematographer Zhang Yimou) invented a new language of colours, shadows, glances, and unspoken thoughts that allowed them to talk about taboo subjects in ways that were new to Chinese cinema.

Ffilm hyfryd am ymchwil un fenyw am ryddid personol, mae'r ffilmio'n syml ond hynod effeithiol ac yn dangos y gwrthgyferbyniadau rhwng y gyfundrefn ac unigolion.

Winner Silver Leopard for Best Film Locarno International Film Festival 1985

Enillydd y Llewpard Arian am y Ffilm Orau yng Ngwyl Ffilm Ryngwladol Locarno 1985