Le retour des hirondelles

This is the story of an unlikely love in a world on the brink of extinction.

In a capitalist China, where the economy is growing at an astounding pace, there is no longer a place for peasants, who live self-sufficiently from what they produce, in the adobe houses they build and which the government subsidizes the demolition. They need to be moved to social neighborhoods, where the houses have balconies and lots of light. But as the protagonist rightly says, where do I put the donkey and the chickens?

The portrait of a rural China on the verge of extinction and the unlikely love between a couple of peasants, rejected by their families, who build a simple but happy life in the house they built with their own hands, from tireless work in the fields.

A poem to old China, which quickly disappears, at the mercy of speculators who drive BMWs and suck the blood out of peasants.

Express various details and rural life scenes with the most tactile audio-visual, the slowest and slowest rhythm without driving force, and the gentle lens, depict the rustic rural characters, build the most stable and peaceful picture of rural life, and write the happy and beautiful love story of two people who met each other under the traditional "power" of the Chinese relative without any sex that only Chinese directors can do it. But in the end, they could not escape the heartbreaking elegy.

It can be used as the color scheduling of allusion psychology, but it is not in place. It is very realistic and too gentle. The artistic atmosphere is strong, but in the fast-paced society, it is too arrogant.

This is the most artistic art film in my heart, and it is also the epitome and portrayal of China's rural society today.

It is the farmers that give free blood to the city time and again. How ironic!

What retreats is the dust of love, and what returns is the dust and smoke of the city.

--2022.07.17.

Everything the other reviewers have said. I would like to add that out of the many thousands of other films I have seen this is my second most admired (My favorite film is Matewan). Such a sad but profound story of the human condition. I cried heavily at the end. I can't understand why the Chinese government would ban such a masterful film because it's not going to prompt any meaningful actions by us peasants. The film only creates a human connection between the citizens from different parts of the world by showing us as essentially people, going about our lives as best we can. I would love this film to be promoted heavily in the west.

Ruijun Li's touching Chinese drama about two lonely souls raised the ire of the government which has subsequently banned it. A political tract it is not.

Ma (Renlin Wu) is dismissed even by his own family as 'fourth brother'. Cao (Hai-Qing) is similarly the dark sheep of her family, challenged by health issues and quiet almost to the point of being a mute. Their families arrange a marriage - not necessarily for the benefit of the man and woman - as much as taking them off their hands. They are peasants. Subsistence farmers eeking out not so much a living, as survival.

Good fortune seems to strike the newlyweds when the rich land baron who owns their tracts calls upon Ma for a vital personal favor. Ma is so humble and honorable that he never demands any true reward for helping out the landlord, indeed he extracts nothing at all. He is the type of man who doesn't even ride his farm labor donkey - afraid his weight will burden the beast.

Ruijun Li (who also wrote) provides a gentle guiding hand. The small miracle that evolves with Ma and Cao truly becoming a married couple is accomplished with the smallest of touches. There is minimal music and few major incidents. Li adopts a neo-realist tone. It's et in the present day - which probably is what triggered the government's reaction to the appallingly poor and exploited condition of the farm workers. Other than the use of cell phones and modern vehicles, it could take place at any time.

RETURN TO DUST is simple, but not simplistic. Renlin Wu and Hai-Qing's unadorned but accomplished performances carry the movie over some occasionally slow patches. It's a lovely work that should be seen -- especially, in it's homeland.

She lovingly cradles a little cardboard lightbox from him with holes that make her room appear like it is full of stars, and he gently places wheat husks on her wrist in the shape of flower petals. This late blooming romance between a poor farmer and an abused woman fills them each with such overwhelming happiness that anything seems possible. A rainstorm that washes away their work of many days, a demolished home, oppressive cold, and poverty, are nothing compared to their love. They find pleasure and wonder in everything; a nest full of swallows, hatching chickens, a wandering donkey, and bottles built into the roof of their home that make the wind sound like it is playing a melody. Still, the challenges of living in modern China constantly test their resolve, patience, and determination.

In addition to being a captivating and tender love story about a mature couple, Return to Dust provides an intriguing picture of the current affairs of China and the ways the developments are affecting the lives of rural populations, food supplies, and China's soul. People are encouraged to move to 70 story apartment towers when their homes are demolished, farms are flooded for massive hydroelectric projects, and artisans are replaced by machines and factories. I witnessed these issues at play in a visit to China in 2018.

It is heartening to witness this loving couple appreciate the small joys of life and peacefully accept adversity, and devastating when society seems to want to grind them into the dust in pursuit of questionable goals. "Where do our chickens, donkeys, and pigs live?" they ask when they are pushed to move to a condo. The couple is so kind to people and animals, and their greatest treasure is each other, so you wish them and those like them all the success in the world.

Screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.