Seen in 2006, it's hard to appreciate just how progressive and utterly 'contemporary' this film was. The story on which it is based had just been published, and the topic, unlike the escapist entertainment of time, was a matter of immediate urgency. The village of silkworm growers was, in effect, a microcosm of the nation, showing the deleterious effects of imperialism, war, usury and their own superstitions and doggedly conservative resistance to the tide of modernity.
The immediate background to the film is as follows: In the early thirties, the Jiangnan silk industry (in particular, in the counties of Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Hubei and Hunan) was in great danger. It had to compete with inflation, Japanese imports, competition from foreign fabrics, high interest rates and other market forces that could be manipulated by exploitative capitalists.
*** Plot summary with Spoilers Ahead ***
The film itself shows the family of Tong Bao in their efforts day and night, to keep silkworms. Tong Bao is a great believer in superstitions (such as judging a future harvest by the number of sprouting onion stalks) and a number of taboos. For instance, he prohibits his son from talking to a neighbour's daughter, called He Hua (Lotus Flower), because she is believed by the village to bring bad luck. In the season in question, Tong Bao borrows money at high interest in order to buy mulberry leaves for the silkworms. He envisages a bumper harvest. At the time of the cocoon harvest, war breaks out and silk production is at a standstill. He can't offload the cocoons and eventually must ship them a long way just to sell them at a loss.
*** Plot summary ends ***
This film was one of the first Leftist films to be produced. Though it bears elements of typical melodramas, at heart it was an enormous break from tradition. As such, it was quite a courageous experiment. (Incidentally, it didn't do very well at the box office when first released, but was highly praised by the Communist party when it came to power.) The film is sometimes almost documentary in style, like a Chinese Robert Flaherty, especially when it concentrates the camera on the details of silk production. At other times, the fluid camera movements recall the work of Murnau. As a mixture of genres, it's hard to say whether it is successful or not. Is it a documentary about the national condition that has been personalised through the lens of a single village or is it a socially-aware fiction? I think it succeeds more as the first. It's tone, even in spite of the dramatic aspects, is simple and unadorned. Through one story, that of an impoverished village, it thrusts forward that of China itself, impoverished and humiliated by foreign exploitation, military attack, and by its own superstitions and resistance to the modernisation of its industries.
Seeing it now, seventy years later, its historical import is obvious. 'Spring Silkworms' encapsulated so many of the problems plaguing Republican China and stands as a valuable historical document. As such, it retains an important humane aspect, firmly rooted in reality, an aspect long lost by the more propagandistic films that Chinese leftists produced later when further radicalised by a worsening national situation.
Additional note: Though listed here as having a 'mono' soundtrack, the film is in fact silent, with title cards. The DVD copy I viewed did have a musical track of no great merit.
The immediate background to the film is as follows: In the early thirties, the Jiangnan silk industry (in particular, in the counties of Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Hubei and Hunan) was in great danger. It had to compete with inflation, Japanese imports, competition from foreign fabrics, high interest rates and other market forces that could be manipulated by exploitative capitalists.
*** Plot summary with Spoilers Ahead ***
The film itself shows the family of Tong Bao in their efforts day and night, to keep silkworms. Tong Bao is a great believer in superstitions (such as judging a future harvest by the number of sprouting onion stalks) and a number of taboos. For instance, he prohibits his son from talking to a neighbour's daughter, called He Hua (Lotus Flower), because she is believed by the village to bring bad luck. In the season in question, Tong Bao borrows money at high interest in order to buy mulberry leaves for the silkworms. He envisages a bumper harvest. At the time of the cocoon harvest, war breaks out and silk production is at a standstill. He can't offload the cocoons and eventually must ship them a long way just to sell them at a loss.
*** Plot summary ends ***
This film was one of the first Leftist films to be produced. Though it bears elements of typical melodramas, at heart it was an enormous break from tradition. As such, it was quite a courageous experiment. (Incidentally, it didn't do very well at the box office when first released, but was highly praised by the Communist party when it came to power.) The film is sometimes almost documentary in style, like a Chinese Robert Flaherty, especially when it concentrates the camera on the details of silk production. At other times, the fluid camera movements recall the work of Murnau. As a mixture of genres, it's hard to say whether it is successful or not. Is it a documentary about the national condition that has been personalised through the lens of a single village or is it a socially-aware fiction? I think it succeeds more as the first. It's tone, even in spite of the dramatic aspects, is simple and unadorned. Through one story, that of an impoverished village, it thrusts forward that of China itself, impoverished and humiliated by foreign exploitation, military attack, and by its own superstitions and resistance to the modernisation of its industries.
Seeing it now, seventy years later, its historical import is obvious. 'Spring Silkworms' encapsulated so many of the problems plaguing Republican China and stands as a valuable historical document. As such, it retains an important humane aspect, firmly rooted in reality, an aspect long lost by the more propagandistic films that Chinese leftists produced later when further radicalised by a worsening national situation.
Additional note: Though listed here as having a 'mono' soundtrack, the film is in fact silent, with title cards. The DVD copy I viewed did have a musical track of no great merit.
