Alamy
she wasn’t playing Wang ’s
grandmother, specifi cally,
but everyone’s grandmother.
“I approached the treatment of
the character from more of an
iconic, archetypal perspective,”
explains Wang. “Of course,
I think of my Nai Nai as the
archetypal matriarch! But
I never felt that I was directing
my grandmother. Zhao is such
a tremendous actor, but she’s
very not like my grandmother
in real life.”
If the fi lm begins by
reminding the audience that
it’s based somewhat in truth,
Wang makes an interesting
choice to cap off the story. At
the very end, Wang includes
footage of her own Nai Nai —
who’s, happily, still alive over
six years after her diagnosis.
Some have interpreted that
as a moment of catharsis
following a particularly sombre
last fi ve minutes, but Wang
sees it another way. “We were
mixed about that,” she says.
“At some point in the script,
the reveal was actually part of
the story. But the story isn’t
really about whether Nai
Nai lives or dies. We all die,
eventually. I wanted to remind
people that it was a true
story, and that this happens
regularly in China. And to see
her still alive, to see that she
outlived her prognosis by six
years makes you go, ‘Wait a
second. Was I wrong? Was my
family right in not telling her
the truth?’”
There’s one element in
the fi lm that is more of an
exaggeration of the actual
events. When Billi arrives in
Changchun, she checks into a
hotel. Told that the elevator is
out, she’s forced to trudge up
a seemingly endless circular
staircase. Shock horror: that
part isn’t entirely cut from
the cloth of truth. “I’ve taken
a lot of staircases in China,
and they feel endless,” laughs
Wang. “But it was such a lovely
visual element, that spiral
staircase, of going around in
circles.” When life gives you
metaphors that good, take
advantage. CHRIS HEWITTTHE FAREWELL IS OUT NOW ON DVD,
BLU-RAY, AND DOWNLOADI LOVE FILM. I love what the best of cinema can
do for society. We are creating pieces of art that
will outlive our physical existence. Typing those
words almost feels pretentious. Almost, because,
as we see below, it is true. Similarly, writing
about another artist’s work is not something that
I live to do per se. Even though learning and
growing as a filmmaker requires hours of study,
observation and learning, publicly providing
your feelings about it is somewhat frightening.
And in considering the film to watch for this
piece, I considered different eras and genres.
I decided to focus on the last year of the ’60s
(1969) and the Western genre since my last film
is a Western. I also believe that the American
Western is the seminal genre where the themes
are timeless. But, I didn’t want to just write
about the American Western, I wanted to write
on one with an African-American hero. However,
that was a no-go. Not because
there are none. There are some.
But I have watched every one
that is readily available. I also
have watched a lot of Westerns,
for both pure enjoyment and
also as a learning tool. Yet one
film that escaped my viewing
has beenThe Wild Bunch,
directed by Sam Peckinpah.
The IMDb logline forThe
Wild Bunchreads: “An ageing
group of outlaws look for one
last big score as the ‘traditional’
American West is disappearing
around them.” This is the basic
plot but there is so much more.
‘Bloody Sam’ was an artist
[who] still inspires today. Much
has been written about the
operatic feel of the violence ofthe piece. The energy holds up. However, he was
able to accomplish as much dramatically in the
quiet moments of the fi lm as he was in the action
set pieces. Additionally, there are so many
takeaways on a technical level: the layering
of the frames, the subtle build of tension, the use
of wonderful sets. Understanding the diffi cultly
of shooting a period piece, I can only marvel at
what Peckinpah was able to accomplish.
Beyond the technical feats, I’d like to
consider how Peckinpah fl exes his cinematic
muscles, exploring emotional complexities and
visual dexterity. Now, I must admit, that I believe
the fi lm suff ers from what many fi lms from that
time suff er from: an inaccurate and unbalanced
exploration of women and non-white men. But
Mr Peckinpah also must’ve realised this and
exhibited his understanding of this inequity.
For instance, there is a scene where a man
shoots a woman, a former lover who is fl irting
with a general. The uniforms all rush this man,
ready to execute him. This man’s outlaw friends
tell the military fi ghters that he wasn’t trying to
shoot ‘His Excellency’, but just a woman and that
he was heartbroken. The military men begin
laughing and actually invite the outlaws to drink
with them. Without a word about the value of a
woman, Mr Peckinpah said a lot. I once watched
an interview where Mr Peckinpah stated that,
“As a fi lmmaker I must look at both sides of the
coin and do my best as a storyteller. I have no
absolutes. I have no value judgments...” When
I consider this scene, he makes no judgments
but, at the same time, mirrors exactly what has
happened in this genre: women are disregarded.
The second example is the opening of the
fi lm where the kids watch ants devour a
scorpion. Ants are smaller, weaker and lacking
the pungent sting that a scorpion carries in its
poisonous tip. The scorpion was alone, the ants
were plenty. And in this disparity, the ants
overtake and consume the more powerful
scorpion. One might ask, what does this have
to do with outlaws? We never see the kids again.
We never see the scorpion. However, the end of
the fi lm is where this set-up is paid off. During
the fi nal fi ght, I found myself
pausing the fi lm and staring at
the frame of Pike [played by
William Holden] holding the
Gatling gun, while the soldiers
closed in. I wondered why this
image was haunting me. Then
it hit me — Pike, the scorpion!
The gun, the poisonous stinger.
And the men surrounding him,
the ants. The end had come
to the powerful, isolated and
aged outlaws. Their fate
was foretold with creative
symbolism that one had to
be patient, to be attentive to
receive. Thank you for these
lessons, Mr Peckinpah.HELL ON THE BORDER IS OUT ON
16 MARCH ON DVD AND DOWNLOADTHIS MONTHWES MILLER, DIRECTOR OF HELL ON THE
BORDER, TACKLES SAM PECKINPAH’S
ALL-TIME WESTERN, THE WILD BUNCH↓
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Classic movies, seen for
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