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everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Directed by Zhang Yimou as in many of his films, stars Gong Li in the title role. This film adaption of Chen Yuanbin's novella The Wan Family's Lawsuit tells the story of a peasant woman, Qiu Ju (Gong Li), who lives in a rural area of China. When her husband is kicked in the groin by the village head, Qiu Ju, despite her pregnancy, travels around looking for a apology. When apology isn't given, she goes to the nearby town to find the policemen to press charges, and later a big city to deal with its bureaucrats to try to find justice for her husband. Her lack-back husband, on the other hand is just happier to just move on, and let bygones be bygones, but for Qiu Ju, it becomes a never ending cycle dealing with lawyers, judges, and courts. It's a humorous fable of justice that shows how justice is distributed varies between classes. Gong Li is wonderful as Qiu Ju, a tenacious farmer determined to right a wrong done to her husband. If watching this film with hopes of seeing Gong Li's ravishing beauty, you will be disappointed. She is blandly dressed and pregnant through most of the film. Defying all stereotypes of the passive Chinese woman, she remains unbowed by the frustrations of bureaucracy in her quixotic search for dignity. In this case, "The Story of Qiu Ju" shows how the legal authorities find money as a just compensation, whereas Qiu Ju finds an apology more appropriate. The movie has a Frank Capra, Mr. Smith goes to Washington feel to it, with a simple-minded person go to the government looking for change. Also the camera work whose influence comes directly from the Italian Nero Realism films such as Francis Truffaunt's 'the 400 Blows' as the ending nearly mimics that ending shot using the freeze frame and close up. The story feels like Bicycle Thieves due to it's well narrated story about the modern day parable that explores the gray area between seeking justice and exacting revenge is chilling. It is a cautionary tale as well since it shows that justice is not an absolute. Justice can be a somewhat intangible concept - something that needs to be defined by the human experience. One person's injustice can be another person's justice. The movie intent to expose the daunting bureaucratic Chinese government, with it's use of comedy, drama, and political satire. Although the film takes place in China, there is a sense that it could be just about anywhere in the world since the struggles contained within are so universal in nature. The snakelike pathways of the bureaucracy to an unexpected outcome is a universal problem that is as much in evidence in a Democracy as well as Communist. The resulting film, as an exercise in frustration, is as essential an addition to the "literature" of the law as Dickens' Bleak House or Trollope's Orley Farm, and should be on the curriculum of every law school. The movie is a bit of a frustration to get through as well. The faults of the film are that the movie is hard to get through in one sitting, there are long periods of non-talking, and nothing going on screen, and the never ending tragic results of Qiu Ju not getting her way. The slow-paced temp of the film really hurt the film. The kick is never shown, but the entire film is based around it. I would love to see the action being case, but having the kick not show add another layer of mystery. The humor is dry, but it's funny that one point that the director seems eager to make is that the people are not hungry in China. Nearly ever other scene shows people eating. The film lacks any of the visually stunning as his other film 'The Road Home', but it's does what it can with the shots, they have. The rural scenes and settings are real. The village, journeys and settings are all real China, not a Hollywood set. The background actors are incredibly real people who don't work for screen actors guild. It's feel like Communist China. While the film might be for all audiences, it's worth checking out

The film of Qiu Ju Da Guan Si was produced by Zhang Yimou who was the fifth generation filmmaker in China. Also this is the most realistic film I have ever seen before. The story was happened in a small mountain village, the main character---Qiu Ju is a peasant woman whose husband was kicked by the village Chief. The only thing that Qiu Ju wants is an apology. However, it is difficult to achieve. Because of village Chief is a stubborn man, he did not think he made a mistake at that case; also he wants to save his face, so he did not want to give apologies. After that, Qiu Ju wants use the legal system to get an apology. The whole process is from the village to county, from county to city, finally to the court.The plot of this film revolves around the Qiu Ju's action. Through the process, it describes the rural life and the relationship between people and people. Also, it highlights the realistic ethics. The filming technique is unadorned, and includes some practical life scenes; so, it can make an overwhelming1y strong sense of reality. From the beginning of film, we can see a typical Chinese mountain village with a traditional ditty of Shan Xi. Then, we can see a pregnant women walking in the snow and her name is Qiu Ju, this scene make me impressive. From the whole, we can see many different kinds of expression in her eyes. It includes Confused, obstinate, anticipate, disappointed, curious, and beatific. These changing also reflect the development of her case. In this film, the officer Li Gong An always say the village chief is very stubborn. But in fact, Qiu Ju is more stubborn than village chief. The dialogue 'Want a reasonable statement'appeared many times, it means Qiu Ju just want a statement. The structure of this film is very clean and irregular, the light also natural. Some of the lens is candid and plus some non-professional actors' performance, it makes the film more rustic. The costume is very particular, we can see Qiu Ju's clothes are red and there are many pimientos around their house, also she always wears a green scarf, it forms a strong comparison. In addition, there are many metaphors in the film. For example, the music in the beginning of this film is a ditty of Shan Xi. When Qiu Ju went to prosecute the village chief, and then we can hear the ditty; When she get the same result and back to her village, the ditty also come out. That is a tough process, but she never give up, we can hear the ditty many times, it means Qiu Ju do the same thing many times. Besides, there is a scene that Qiu Ju talks to the prefecture officer, she told them she graduated from high school. As we know, a high school degree is quite good for the villagers. It means due to she had a high school degree, so she knows that she can get a reasonable statement through the legal system. From this aspect, we can get an idea that Qiu Ju was trying to protect her rights. In this film, we can find out anther point that many villagers did not know the laws and regulations, so they do not know how to protect their rights. Even the writer who helps people to write the application for their lawsuit was not familiar with laws. It is a social problem at that time. Otherwise, there was a contradiction in this film, as we know Qiu Ju just wants an apology, but the village chief did not gave her an apology. So, she tries again and again. During the process, Qiu Ju's childbirth was not successfully, and then her husband went to chief's home and asks for help. At that time, the chief ignore the misunderstanding and still help them. After that, the chief told Qiu Ju's husband, if Qiu Ju still wants a statement then she can continued to prosecute him. I think this part is very important to this story. Finally, the chief was taken by the policeman that is the statement for Qiu Ju. However, Qiu Ju just wants an apology, she never want see this result. At last, we can hear the sound and see Qiu Ju was searching for the car. At the end of the film, the camera gave her a close-up, her face was full of helpless and confusion.In short, the director Zhang Yimou uses this story to express the awakening of personal rights. Also, Gong Li played the role of Qiu Ju is very well; Gong Li's performance praises the peasant woman's new characteristic which is self-confident, self-respect. In my opinion, this film is full of Chinese characteristic; it reflects the social condition of that time and includes people's thought changing. So, I think this film is very good.

all the knee-jerk reviewers with their banal, namby pamby comments used all the high ratings up. Get real people, she wants "nothing more than to have the village elder apologize to her husband". NO. She wants the apology for herself. How many people like this do I know? People who've never accomplished much of anything in their lives, but they run around like the Queen of Sheba, demanding the world listen to them above all else. "bureaucratic nightmare"?!?! She gets treated better than Americans do by both their government and most of the commercial organizations which we pay for service! "a completely convoluted and impregnable" system "totally devoid of compassion and understanding"? The system is open to her, even saying "you have a right to be suspicious, we might make mistakes" & then prompting her to take it to the next level. The system UNDERSTANDS that systems cannot make people APOLOGIZE. Systems can throw people in jail, fine them, etc. An apology is an emotion, not a system event. Her problem is she doesn't understand what things are worth & worth fighting for. She's always haggling over money in the film. What are things worth? What is an "I'm sorry" spoken by someone with a gun held to their head WORTH? Get real people. "the Chinese are quiet, gentle people"!?!? Yeah, tell that to all the victims of the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square, etc. They are PEOPLE, some good, some bad, some gentle, some psychotic killers more interested in their own good time & fortune than in other people's next breath. Get real. "Oh, it shows the real Chinese countryside." It was made IN the Chinese countryside by Chinese! Were you expecting to be reminded of Coal Miner's Daughter & the Appalachians perhaps?All in all, fine acting and a fine Rorschach of a story. It drags quite a bit in the "local color" scenes, but for anyone who has never strayed more than 500 miles from their birthplace, there's the local color.

Most Chinese movies are about victims of the culture or political system or how beautiful you men and women are kept apart or forced together by forces outside their control. This movie is completely different. It is a simple story about the ordinary Chinese people you can meet on the street and in their homes today and their ordinary lives. It is an amazingly accurate portrayal, unlike anything I have seen before. I only spent 3 weeks in China, but this movie brought back the feel of China, its people, and organizations.Qxi Ju wants an apology from the Chief of the commune for kicking her husband in the groin. This is a story about her travels from the commune to the big city to try to get action from various bureaucracies. Although she is treated kindly and with much respect by the bureaucrats, she never gets exactly what she wants. It is fun to watch naive country girl Qxi Ju quickly learn about master doing things in the big city.For me, the plot in this movie is secondary. It is each of the simple scenes that make this movie wonderful: The doctor's office is heated by a wood stove and the doctor chops the wood and feeds the fire. Qxi Ju's sister gives here a ride to town on the back of her bicycle on a snow covered unpaved road. They use dried chili peppers to trade for money to get a ride to the next town. Qxi Ju negotiates for the price of each thing she buys. The scenes all seem so realistic and beautifully photographed.Yimou Zhang also made "Raise the Red Lantern" which gets higher praise, but that movie is about a world that is harder for me to relate to. This movie is like real life and real people and China today.