Promotional poster for White Deer Plain Photo: CFP
The highly-anticipated movie, White Deer Plain, premiered in Chinese mainland theaters this Saturday, following a two-day delay of its original theater release date, September 13, and coming months after its premiere at Berlin International Film Festival (BIFF) in February.
Directed by Wang Quan'an, White Deer Plain is an adaptation of Chen Zhongshi's full-length novel of the name title.
Many fans of the original novel found the film disappointing. Compared to Chen Zhongshi's novel, which has around 400,000 words, the two-and-a-half hour film seemed to rush through the saga spanning half a century, missing crucial storylines and characters.
Notable differences
The film follows generations of the Bai and Lu families living on the White Deer Plain in central Shaanxi, from the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to the founding of People's Republic of China. The stories of the central characters parallel the changes of the country.
The film begins at the halfway point of the novel and ends before the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).
Adaptations are often different from the original, and the limited time length prevents Wang from telling the story in detail.
The book is praised for its coverage of the characters and the interweaving themes of love, ethics and time. The film is criticized for focusing too much on Tian Xiao'e and the romance between Tian and Heiwa.
Tian, the concubine of a rich farmer, runs off with Heiwa, a migrant worker who harvests wheat, after the two have an affair. Wang Quan'an disregards other stories to focus on this. Development of the Bai and Lu families seem motivated by Tian's story.
One major disappointment to fans of the book is that several major characters in the original novel, including Zhu Xianshen, Bai Ling and Lu Zhaohai are absent in the movie.
Shi Jianfeng, a columnist, posted on his Sina Weibo that White Deer Plain without Zhu is not real, as Zhu is one of a central characters in Chen Zhongshi's book. Chen grew up admiring the feats of Zhu.
"It's a pity that many central figures aren't included in the movie," Chen told Chinese Business View last Friday.
"Many important events happened in China during [the first half of 20th century], a key backdrop. But these important time periods are presented only with the dates on the screen," movie critic Wang Siwei said, adding that the film expects audiences to have a knowledge of modern Chinese history.
Eroticism and nudity
First published in 1993, the novel, White Deer Plain was controversial for its frank sex descriptions. After completion, the film thus faced many checks from authorities, nearly missing its chance to participate in the BIFF competition.
Audiences wanted to see how Wang passed the authorities while keeping the sex scenes. By the end of the film, its becomes clear that sex was merely a promotional aspect in the Chinese mainland.
One-third of the two-minute trailer was dominated by sex scenes. In the Chinese mainland release of the film, at 150-minutes, there were few sex scenes, with barely any development from the trailer.
After watching, some netizens joked that a scene of characters eating noodles was more exciting than the sex scenes, advising those who wanted to watch White Deer Plain for the sex parts to think twice before buying tickets.
There was praise for the harvesting scenes and Qinqiang performances, a Shaanxi local opera. Both represent the local culture of the area. The film has a strong Shaanxi flavor, a visual and audio delight.
Wang Quan'an's signature
Born in 1965, Wang is not a prolific director, but many of his works received numerous awards at home and abroad, gaining recognition in the film circle.
His previous films, Lunar Eclipse (1999), Tuya's Marriage (2006) and Weaving Girl (2009), focused on the difficulties of day-to-day life.
"Starting from Apart Together (2010), Wang started to pay attention to big historical events," Shi Chuan, deputy chair of Shanghai Film Artist Association, told the Global Times.
Author Chen gave the film adaptation a high score of 95 points, while Shi awarded it 8 points out of 10.
"There are weak parts in the script, characters and structure. But on the whole, they are minor and forgivable," Shi commented.
"Wang Quan'an is a director of thoughts. His analysis of the story, characters and society is better than other directors of the same generation," Shi added.
Shi told the Global Times that Wang has a different historical perspective, separate from mainstream culture.
"He has his own thoughts in White Deer Plain, aided by the book's solid foundation."
Film critic Wang Siwei said the 220-minute version is better, as much was lost in the edited version.