A Tale of Two Donkeys

Impossible to synopsise without sounding totally silly, “A Tale of Two Donkeys” is an involving, beautifully modulated yarn about a young intellectual\'s “war” with two equines in a mountain village during the Cultural Revolution. Impressive feature debut by successful TV director Li Dawei constructs its own believably quirky, blackly humorous universe within a realistically grim setting. Pic has already cantered into some fest derbys and would make a prime contender for ethnic webs and mainland Chinese film weeks.

Setting is tiny Beigao village in Shanxi province, northern China, whither has been sent, along with many others, Ma Jie (Wen Zhang), a young “intellectual” (a general Maoist term for any educated city dweller), for political retraining. Screenplay by Shu Ping (“Keep Cool,” “Devils on the Doorstep”) early establishes Ma as a slightly spacey guy who exists in his own world but is also smart when he needs to be.

Assigned, to his relief, not to a construction brigade but to the relatively cushy job of livestock keeper, he takes against one stud donkey, Heiliu (“Black Six”), because of the animal\'s pampered existence. Determined to establish his dominance over the cocky equine, he secretly injects it with an anesthetic which he knows will knock it out for two hours and, in front of everyone, then “magically” resuscitates it.

After Ma further humiliates the donkey, even robbing it of its sex drive, the commune decides Heiliu should be slaughtered for its meat, and Ma is given the task - a humorously macabre sequence processed in B&W. But Heiliu\'s younger brother, Heiqi (“Black Seven”), has been watching the whole time, and is determined to take revenge on Ma.

Without Disney-fying the animals in any way, helmer Li manages to create a convincing “war” between beast and human through editing and closeup inserts that\'s quite gripping in its own way. The trick is that the whole thing may be in Ma\'s head - certainly, none of the local peasantry or the doctrinaire female brigade chief (Yue Hong) believe him - and it\'s he who always takes the blame for one after another snafu.

A second Great Wall could be built from films set during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), but “Donkeys” finds a fresh angle. Without directly mocking the Maoist movement, which here is simply a background to the story, it addresses the theme of mass obsession, during which reality can be skewed, in an oblique way.

Script doesn\'t push its idea of animal-human interface any way as far as “Equus.” Fine cast keeps the ironic humor gently bubbling, with Wen good as the outmaneuvered Ma and Yue especially good as the doctrinaire cadre. In her first role since graduating, young actress Bai Jing is fine as Caifeng, a peasant girl who falls for Ma to embarrassingly funny results.

Wintry Shanxi locations, sans snow, are cleanly lensed in browny tones by d.p. Du Jie (“Crazy Stone”). Early \'70s production design is spot on. Original title roughly means “Let\'s wait and see.” （By Derek Elley）

Derek ELLEY is Senior Film Critic of the U.S.-based entertainment trade paper "Variety," which has been covering the international film business for over 100 years. Born in London, Elley has been writing about East Asian cinema for over 35 years, especially Chinese-language films, and has arranged numerous seasons both in the U.K. and elsewhere. In 1998, he co-founded the Far East Film Festival, in Udine, Italy, devoted to mainstream Asian movies. He has been visiting China regularly, both for business and pleasure, for over 20 years.