BY Lin Wang

Red River Valley made its United States debut in February as part of the Chinese Cinema Festival. Of the recent films made about the invasion of Tibet, Red River Valley is unique in that it does not portray the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. Rather, it portrays the British invasion in 1904. The movie is based on a memoir written by a British commander, and is directed by Feng Xiaoning, a director from mainland China. According to a Chinese newspaper, the film was produced to counter attacks made on China by recent Hollywood films such as Seven Years in Tibet, Kundun, and Red Corner. This film is the most poignant movie that has been made so far about the Tibetan people and their land. It portrays strong human emotions that cannot be found in the strictly religious Kundun, and its sincere portrayal of Tibetan culture makes Seven Years in Tibet pale in comparison.

Feng probably did not make Red River Valley with the intent of it becoming a political tool in the international arena. Indeed, most of the film simply conveys a land with simple, honest, trustworthy people that "might exist in the last corner of the earth," as one character in the film laments. The filmmaking itself reflects the Tibetan land and people—simple but moving. The film has few main characters, but each carries such weight that they say more than a cast of hundreds ever could.

The story takes place in the beginning of this century. The film opens with a Han girl who is about to be sacrificed by members of her village who hope that heaven will repay them with rain for their harvests. As she stares into the indifferent crowd, she makes a wish: that she will never be born as a girl again. In a twist of fate, she is rescued by her brother and an old Tibetan woman. She then settles in Tibet, renaming herself Snow Daya (Ying Zhen). This incident signifies the harmony that exists between the Han Chinese and the Tibetans, or at least a harmony that the Chinese government would like to create through the film. It is striking that the film, by contrasting the cruelty of the Han villagers with the kindness of the Tibetan people, portrays Tibetan culture as being more "civilized" than its Han counterpart. In doing so, the film makes a mockery of the British claim that their invasion was a way of bringing civilization to Tibet and liberating the Tibetan people.

The story shifts to the year 1900, when two British scientists come to Tibet to find butterfly samples. One of them becomes sick and decides to stay in Tibet. He falls in love with the Tibetan people, but particularly with the village chieftain’s daughter (Ning Jing). He returns to England after recovering his health but thinks about Tibet every day. Four years later, he finally has the chance to come back to Tibet as the photographer for the British army. When he arrives, however, he finds his own people slaughtering his beloved Tibetan friends. He cannot comprehend the logic of this British invasion. If the British were to liberate the Tibetan people and to bring civilization to them, why did they begin with a massacre? What does civilization really mean?

Some argue that Red River Valley is merely a propaganda film. Indeed, there are moments when the Chinese government’s statements are boldly proclaimed. For example, when the British commander tries to persuade the chieftain to let Tibet become independent from China, the chieftain replies that different ethnic groups in China are like a family of siblings, and that whatever conflicts may exist, they are internal affairs in which no foreigner should be involved. This represents one regrettable aspect of the mainland Chinese films: the arts necessarily serve as the tools of the government. Regardless of the artist’s true intention, he must work within the government’s ideological framework. But that is precisely the artistic skill of Feng. While he relays the Chinese government’s agenda indirectly through the dialogue between the British and the Chinese, he also manages to convey his own message: that different ethnic groups should live peacefully together. His main concern is humanity and love between all people, not nationalism.