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 ons
of Good Earth" is a re-release of the 1964
Shaw Brothers film, notable for marking the debut
of legendary director King Hu. Although he had
previously worked on "The Story of Sue
San" with Li Han-hsiang (himself an important
Chinese director, having made no less than 70
films, including "Enchanting Shadow"),
"Sons of Good Earth" is generally
regarded as being Hu's first, probably since he
not only directed, but wrote and co-starred in it.
Hu, who died in 1997, is
certainly a director who deserves to be better
known in the West, with a talent comparable with
that of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Although
he only made 17 films in a career spanning more
than 30 years, Hu was responsible for such
classics as "A Touch of Zen", the
original "Dragon Gate Inn" and
"Come Drink with Me", which was the
inspiration behind Ang Lee's "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
With "Sons of Good
Earth", Hu tackles the Sino-Japanese war from
the perspective of the inhabitants of a small town
in the Northeast. The film begins as He Hua (Le
Di, also in "The Love Eterne"), a young
girl who has been sold to a brothel, tries to
escape and is helped by two painters, Yu Rui (Chen
Hou) and Guan Sansheng (Li Kun). After the police
close the place down, He Hua and Yu Rui get
married and settle into a good, honest life. Their
peace is soon shattered by the invasion of the
Japanese and the brutal regime which follows.
Making matters worse, the owners of the brothel
are released from jail and become collaborators
with the oppressors, using their position to get
revenge on the couple. Eventually, Yu Rui escapes
and joins a local band of guerrilla fighters led
by the former police chief, who struggle to
liberate the province from the invaders.
The first part "Sons of
Good Earth" is played mainly for laughs, with
comic misunderstandings and He Hua being rescued
from the wicked brothel owners. It is these scenes
which are arguably the film's most effective, and
although the tone does take a more serious turn
after the Japanese invades, the film retains a
strangely light-hearted touch which prevents it
from being as moving or stirring as it perhaps
could have been.
In addition to this, the
narrative is quite shoddy, containing multiple
historical inaccuracies and rushing through some
of the film's more dramatic elements without fully
developing them. Perhaps the greatest flaw comes
in the fact that there is no indication of the
passage of time, despite "Sons of Good
Earth's" story covering a period of 7 years,
and as a result, the end comes as a rather abrupt
surprise. As such, the film simplifies a number of
issues which would have allowed it to be taken far
more seriously.
Fortunately the story of
"Sons of Good Earth" is strong enough
for these flaws to be overlooked, being a genuine
tale of heroism in the face of awful tyranny. The
characters are all likeable enough, and it is hard
not to feel for them as they suffer, or to cheer
for them as they fight back. The last third of the
film has a fair amount of bloody action, with some
rousing gun battles as the rebels take back the
city.
Probably the strangest thing
about the film is the fact that it was made on the
same old Shaw Brothers sets, which gives the
constant expectation that a noble hero will
suddenly jump out and defeat the Japanese with
mystical kung fu skills. Although this obviously
never happens, the historical events could have
used a more serious treatment, though "Sons
of Good Earth" is certainly entertaining and
moving enough on its own way.
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