Though left disappointed after seeing his previous film "Wheat Harvest", where I lost track of the story line and the main characters involved, I was prepared to take the blame and to admit that I did not pay enough attention. Anyway, these problems were absent with its successor "Fortune Teller", that was screened on the Rotterdam filmfestival 2011. It provides for some insight in the lives of people with a very low standard of living, even in terms of the Chinese country side, far away from the industrialized society where the economic situation is much more promising.
Fortune Tellers are among the oldest professions (if not the oldest) in China, with beliefs and rituals that may seem strange in our Western eyes. Apparently there is a market for it, and as such we cannot dismiss the lives of these people as being useless. Conversely, I'm not sure how these people would regard some of our rituals and beliefs, if they had the opportunity to observe us from a distance.
Politics seem far away in the country side, where people experience the consequences of decisions taken elsewhere, hence cannot be fully disregarded. Rather than expressing criticism on how democracy works in China, the movie concentrates on the fall-out of bureaucratic decisions with little consideration for individuals, and the ways ordinary people find to cope with such events beyond their influence.
In conclusion, the film gives us some insight in the country side of China, especially how people live their lives without knowing much of what happens elsewhere. As far as I could grasp the mindset of these people and the ways they behave, I found it interesting and informative. On the other hand, I think that 157 minutes is way too long for my attention span, given that there was not a large amount of material available to fill that much time. Its relatively slow pace, combined with lots of things we see but fail to understand, asks too much of the Western viewer, even when he is interested in people and traditions at the other side of the world.
