Still Life (2006)

Sanxia Haoren, with its English title Still Life, is directed by Zhang-ke Ja. It seems that Ja told us two totally isolated stroies. In fact, that two stories are tightly connected. These two both come from Shanxi and search for their family, San-ming Han(on the right hand on the post) for his wife and Tao Zhao(on the left hand side on the post) for her husband. The difference is that Zhao left her husband away and Han went home alone to earn money to pay his wife back. It is interesting that Ja is also from Shaxi and he always advertises his hometown in his films. Almost all stories is about people from Shanxi or just happened there. Another trivia is that Zhao is Ja's girlfriend and Han is Ja's cousin. He's previously a miner and this his second time in Ja's film while Zhao always show in Ja's films since his first one. People's life nearby the Dam on the Yangtze River is so tough. It is incredible that you pay for ￥1.2 for one day accommodation. People here don't share any happiness of the great dam building in their hometown. On the contrast, they are forced to leave from their neighborhood and go far away. They got little atonement for the immigration. Life is not easy and now it is more difficult. Han bought his wife at the price ￥ 3 000 (about $ 400) 18 years ago and she was rescued for it is illegal to buy or sell persons. They have a daughter and now she’s 16 years old. He wanted they two go home with him and his wife agreed. But now Han had to pay ￥30 000 for the debt from his brother in law. Such a poor guy had no enough money and had to do as a coal miner in the illegal mine. He did all he can to have his family together even though it's dangerous and may kill him there.