FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: The Road Home [DVD] [1999]

The Road Home [DVD] [1999]
enlarge	Director: Yimou Zhang Actors: Ziyi Zhang, Honglei Sun, Hao Zheng, Yulian Zhao, Bin Li Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£19.99~~ Buy New: £2.04 as of 24/11/2009 05:42 GMT details You Save: £17.95 (90%) New (13) Used (1) Collectible (1) from £2.04 Seller: great_entertainment Rating: 23 reviews Sales Rank: 26693 Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen Languages: Arabic (Subtitled), Bulgarian (Subtitled), Czech (Subtitled), Danish (Subtitled), Dutch (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Finnish (Subtitled), Greek (Subtitled), Hebrew (Subtitled), Hindi (Subtitled), Hungarian (Subtitled), Icelandic (Subtitled), Norwegian (Subtitled), Polish (Subtitled), Swedish (Subtitled), Turkish (Subtitled), Mandarin Chinese (Original Language) Rating: Universal, suitable for all Region: 2 Discs: 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 86 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5035822283831 ASIN: B00005B1N8 Theatrical Release Date: 1999 Release Date: April 16, 2001 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review The latest film by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, IThe Road Home/I (1999) is a story of past and present. In black and white we see a young businessman return to a rural village where his father has died. His mother wants a traditional funeral, which involves carrying the coffin several miles in the depths of winter. Then, in flashback and brilliant colour, we are told the story of his parents' courtship. His father had come as the local schoolteacher and had fallen in love with his mother, a local girl. Political complications ensue and they are separated for two years, but at last reunited. This apparently simply tale is told with great insight and dazzlingly beautiful camerawork, in a style which echoes the Italian neo-realist films of the 1940s. Perhaps it doesn't have the complexity of the director's earlier film, IRaise the Red Lantern/I (1991), which starred the luminous Gong Li, but IThe Road Home/I has her match in Zhang Ziyi, who also starred in ICrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/I (2000).p BOn the DVD/B: The quality of the sound and picture (in 2.35:1 ratio) are excellent. There are no additional features except for subtitles in English and 15 other languages. --IEd Buscombe/I

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 23 1 2 3 4 5 Next » Beautiful and true February 21, 2007 Dinky 27 out of 27 found this review helpful An old village teacher gets caught in a snowstorm while trying to raise funds for a new schoolhouse and dies of heart failure. His grown son comes home from the city to village elders hoping he'll convince his grieving mother to accept a truck or a tractor to transport the corpse back to the village for burial. His mother insists that his friends from the village should carry the coffin on "the road home" in accordance with ancient customs. The village elders and the son all agree that this is unreasonable but make allowances for an old woman in her grief while trying to think of ways to change her mind. But the son gradually comes around to his mother's way of thinking, coming up with a little practical compromise -- he will pay for people to carry his father home in place of the village's young who have all left -- and then finds himself surprised by the turnout as his father makes his last journey home. br / br /The film begins in the present in black and white, enhancing the wintry conditions and the bare poverty of his mother's home and of the village as well as the widow's grief. But as his memory returns to the past, his parents' love story comes to life in gorgeous colour. This transition is not unknown in film (see "Bonjour Tristesse") but its use here is especially effective: the meadows and the trees, the hills, the narrow dirt road, the simple structures, the rustic clothes bloom on the screen in all their hues. The girl's mother lacking sight is almost an irony in all the vivid colour of the past, but you realize that she is no less attuned to her daughter and the goings-on around her. The blacks and whites especially suit the starkness of the village and the snow-covered road in winter and emphasize the cold, bare rooms of the old family home and the old woman's pain. Funnily enough, it also sits well with the affection and the respect that become apparent as the villagers and former students take it in turn to carry their old teacher home. br / br /Loaded with nostalgia and the most cherished human values, bright with an innocence and rich with a romance one suspects have long departed from cinema, "The Road Home" reminds us of what we may have lost in the drive to progress and modernize: there's more to life than getting ahead or the next big thing. We don't always have to leave the past behind. Old customs have meaning. No matter when or where you go, people are different and the same. A simple and beautiful story March 27, 2005 Dorie 19 out of 19 found this review helpful This is a simple plot well rendered. "The Road Home" consists of a frame story, filmed in black and white, and an embedded story (a story within the story), filmed in vivid colour. It is a love story between an illiterate young woman and a village teacher, set in a superbly filmed background - it really makes you want to travel to China. It is a story of great love and rare devotion of a woman to a man. Though only a simple village girl, the heroine achieves her goal through sheer dedication and perseverance. Despite the straightforward plot line, the film is full of symbols, such as a food bowl, a hair pin, a grandmother who wept when her husband died until she became blind, and the road home itself. I found the many references to popular Chinese beliefs and superstitions fascinating, I've learnt a few things about Chinese culture, and I was left with a desire to explore more about it. The film also has a political dimension, not letting us forget that the love story is set in the years of the Cultural Revolution in China, and as a result we get a poignant reminder of how political issues can interefere with normal everyday life. pThe cinematography is superb - the fields, the heroine's clothes, the food, the bowl, are filmed in vibrant, eye-pleasing colours, and enchant the eye. pThis film is a gem, and I wholeheartedly recommend it! A real film about real people June 13, 2001 13 out of 14 found this review helpful In the days of Hollywood Blockbusters it is heartening to watch a film like this. The film is in no rush to tell the story, it slowly unwinds and encaptures you within its tale. If you are like me, and are getting fed up with film after film of gratuitous violence and buildings blowing up, then watch this. A real film about real people. A film about love and respect.Excellently acted, a piece of art. For those who do not like subtitles, just watch the film and ignore them and let the emotion of the actors and the sunset of the scenery take you away to another world. It is rare these days to find true escapism in a film, a story that will slow your heart beat down, a story that you believe could happen to you. In days of special effects it has been forgotten what is truly special, real people and real emotions. In days where people seem so obsessed with the depraved aspects of society, why not celebrate a film that reacts against this. A beautiful film. A magical film. Absolutely delightful November 21, 2006 Mr. K. J. Mckenna 6 out of 6 found this review helpful This is a beautiful film, full of charm, innocence, love and respect. Opening in black white, it tells the story of a teacher coming to rural China during the Cultural Revolution to work in the village school. An illiterate peasant girl (Zhang Ziyi) falls for the teacher, the excellent Zheng Hao, and their courtship forms the bulk of the film. It is a love story that captivates from start to finish. 'The Road Home' of the title is the funeral path that must be walked so the spirit of the dead person (the village schoolmaster at the end of his life) can find its way home. br / I have seen Zhang Ziyi in many films and not paid too much attention to her but she is outstanding here. This is a simple, beautiful film, told with charm and love. Highly recommended. " Omnia vincit amor, nec cedamus amorem" June 30, 2004 L. BENITO DE VALLE (UK) 10 out of 11 found this review helpful This beautiful love story, framed in the sad times of the Chinese Cultural Revolution show clearly how, through perseverance and patience, love can endure and overcame difficult situations. Zhan Yimou, probably the most personal Chinese director of the Beijing National School, present a love story that could had happened to any of us. It is also very interesting the loving way in which he reflects the tremendous respect of Chinese people to the figure of the teacher or "master" (which still remains in actual China, up to a level that astonish the casual westerner observer). The acting is simply fantastic and the fact that almost all the character except the main roles are not professionals give this movie a great touch of realism. br /In one word: Fantastic Showing reviews 1-5 of 23 1 2 3 4 5 Next »

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