Raise the Red Lantern

Raise the Red Lantern - 2003-02-19. Director: Zhang Yimou. Cast: Gong Li. China/Hong Kong, 1992, color, 125 minutes. When Zhang made 'Raise the Red Lantern', he was at the peak of his cinematic power and was considered a master of modern cinema. This film is regarded as one of the best works of this experienced and important filmmaker of the 1990s. In 'Raise the Red Lantern', Zhang blends the wide political-social scope of his other film 'Red Sorghum' with the controlled style of 'Jiao Dao'. The story begins when a 19-year-old girl named 'Songlian' is married to a wealthy man (the master) according to traditional Chinese customs. The film is set in the 1920s, and the tradition of buying and selling wives is still in force. Songlian soon realizes that she is the fourth wife of her husband. The house she lives in is one of four houses that are all located close to each other, and her co-wives occupy each of those houses. Every night, the master goes to one of his wives, and this event is considered an honor, announced in advance by raising red lanterns above the door of that house so that the other co-wives know not to wait up for him that night. Songlian soon realizes that she is nothing more than an object or a plaything in the master's collection. She also realizes that she is dealing with co-wives who are smarter and more experienced, and she has unwittingly entered into a fierce and cunning battle with them, a battle that each of her 'sisters' conducts with a thousand tricks and schemes to gain favor with the master. Naturally, Songlian is dissatisfied with her situation and feels insecure and paranoid. She finds herself as prey caught in a web of silk, where every strand is a trap and behind every smile lies betrayal, to the point where she ultimately decides to gamble her entire life on a big bet. In addition to the visual splendor and enchanting attention to historical details, 'Raise the Red Lantern' presents a thought-provoking moral story about power, the methods of its perpetual reproduction, and the well-known tactics of division. The master's household is a very complex system with intricate details of traditional customs, according to which every action passes through multiple channels and filters such as etiquette and hollow, grandiose symbolism. However, it is clearly shown that whenever this traditional ceremony does not yield results, the rulers do not hesitate to resort to force and advance their agenda through violence. Considering that 'Raise the Red Lantern' was made two or three years after the Tiananmen Square events, the film's references to government policies did not escape the censors' eyes, leading to its ban in the country.