Berlin lauds story of separation and reunion
By Liu wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-06 09:22
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Wang Quan'an had one bear in his Beijing apartment; now he has two.
His latest film, Apart Together, the opener of the 60th Berlin Film Festival, won a Silver Bear for best screenplay in February. Three years ago, his Tuya's Marriage won the festival's top prize.
He is now the mainland's second director to win both awards in Berlin, after Zhang Yimou.
Some attribute the success of Apart Together in Berlin to the plot's resonance with the the city's history. Berlin knows all too well about separation and reunion.
In 1949, the withdrawal of the Kuomintang troops to Taiwan separated its veteran Liu Yansheng from his girlfriend, Qiao Yu'e. Forty years later, Liu goes back to Shanghai and wants Qiao to return with him to Taiwan. Qiao is forced to choose between her husband Lu and former lover Liu.
The script was inspired by a documentary Wang saw in 2007. It follows a Kuomintang veteran's search for his former family members on the mainland.
Tens of thousands of Kuomintang followers withdrew to Taiwan in 1949. They were not able to visit their family members across the Straits until 1987. Today, the two sides have direct shipping, air and postal links, and family reunions happen more easily.
Wang conducted a number of interviews with people with experiences similar to those depicted in the film and says he found their stories more dramatic than what he has portrayed.
For example, one old woman goes to Taiwan with her former husband, but soon the man suffers a stroke and she finds it difficult to get used to Taiwan's weather and lifestyle. Two years later, her husband dies. She brings his ashes to Shanghai and lives with her granddaughter.
"It may appear to be about marriage, but it includes our country's wounds of the past century," he says.
Wang says he is used to being compared with Zhang Yimou, who also comes from Shaanxi province. Both rose to international fame at the Berlin festival, and both cast their girlfriends - Gong Li (Zhang) and Yu Nan (Wang) - in the lead roles for their early films. Zhang's A Simple Noodle Story competed in Berlin last year, too, but did not win any award.
"Zhang has had his achievements, which deserve respect," Wang says. Speaking of A Simple Noodle Story, he says: "I do not think this work is Zhang's best."
Wang is trying to release his film in mainland cinemas.