Following the success of his last film, Warriors of Heaven and Earth, director He Ping returns to the genre of historical drama, this time less concerned with viewing violence on an epic scope of heroes and villains, and more so with the people caught in the middle. Set during the Warring States Period in China, a time when war seemed the only possible form of existence, the film tells of the many individuals – deserters and widows, peasants and fortune tellers, men and women – who cannot resign themselves to the idea that peace is gone from their lives.
In LuYi, a minor city of Zhao, the city lord bids farewell to his beautiful new bride, Li (Fan Bingbing), and leads his men into combat against the Qin state. With the men away at war, it falls to the women to sustain the city, a task that includes harvesting the wheat crop.
Meanwhile, Xia (Huang Jue), a valiant Qin soldier who fought many gruesome battles, is tired of the bloodshed, and wants only to make his way home for harvest. Despite a standing order that all deserters will be executed, he decides to escape, and for a while it looks like he will make it. However, while running through a wheat field he stumbles over Zhe (Du Jiayi), another Qin soldier who has also fled. Zhe's carelessness causes them to be injured and chased into the river by Qin soldiers.
The men wash ashore and are taken in by the women of Zhao, who are faced with a very special and intimate battle. Should they imprison these strange men, who seem to have fallen from the sky to awaken their senses and bring back memories of happi-ness? Though the women are perceptive, sometimes even the wisest thoughts can be blurred by the desire for a different life: their private suspicions that the men might be Qin are repressed by their hopes that the Zhao have won the war.
The golden hue of the wheat fields and the lush green shades of the forests along the city's edge form the visual texture of this effective anti-war tale. Sustained by the strong performance by Chinese superstar Fan in a subtly complex role that she delivers with grace and generosity, Wheat is an intimate epic. Directed with warmth by He, the film glows with a timeless beauty through which we come to understand the serenity the characters seek, and the pointlessness of the violence they left behind.
Giovanna Fulvi
He Ping was born in Shanxi, China. His filmography includes
Kawashima Yoshiko (89),
The Swordsman in Double Flag Town (91),
Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker (94),
Sun Valley (95) and
Warriors of Heaven and Earth (04).
Wheat (09) is his most recent film.