XIU XIU: THE SENT-DOWN GIRL (1998)

Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl or Tian Yu is a movie based during the 1970s and the time of the People's Republic of China's Cultural Revolution's Down to the Countryside Movement, instituted by Mao for political reasons.

Xiu Xiu, a 15-year-old girl living in the city of Chengdu, moves out to study how to herd horses in the countryside of Sichuan and quickly discovers that she is never to return to her parents. She learns lessons about love and life as she struggles against corruption in the government to return to her family by giving officials her body for their sexual gratification, and deals with her caretaker, Lao Jin.

There are several instances when you wish you could confront Lao Jin regarding his non-action on Xiu Xiu's problems. Baffling as well was Xiu's decision to have herself shot (to death). This was hardly any way to escape her dilemma.

It's a very sad film but it gets your attention alright. In passing, I was reminded by Zhang Yimou's THE ROAD HOME, which was filmed during the same year. There's almost a parallelism between the two stories and Zhang Ziyi's role as Zhao Di was almost none the happier than Lu Lu's Xiu Xiu.

At any rate, Lu Lu became the youngest Best Actress winner in the history of the Taiwan-based Golden Horse Awards in 1998 for this film.