Breaking the Silence

Chinese screen goddess Gong Li plays a single mother in contemporary Beijing who struggles to educate and raise her deaf son. This film, which was very popular at the Berlin Film Festival, is a very moving portrayal of the struggle to get by in modern China. Gong Li, who reportedly didn't wear any makeup in this movie, is utterly convincing in her role, as is the charming lad who plays her son. Director Zhou Sun gives the film the stark feel of a documentary. There is little music, plenty of background noise, and everywhere are reminders -- mostly in ruins -- of China's ancient past. All in all, "Breaking the Silence" does an excellent job in exploring the fight -- often a hopeless, stubborn, bull-headed battle -- to ensure a better future for our children. It also reminds us that, in a China with almost no social services at all, most people are too busy trying to survive to worry about politics.

Sure, I can appreciate a drama about a single mom's struggle to support, feed and take care of her partially deaf child. But when the movie turns out to be that she faces hardship at virtually every aspect of the movie, then it becomes a bit too much - too forced and too scripted in order to tap into the sympathy of the audience.

It was a shame that director Zhou Sun opted to go that way with this movie, because "Breaking the Silence" (aka "Piao liang ma ma") really had all the right ingredients to be a rather beautiful and outstanding movie. But it was just executed in a way too forced manner, and it was so blatantly obvious that the director wanted to press every issue to make the audience sympathize for the struggling mother.

The movie is not all bad though, mind you. Just look past the scripted nature of the movie, and there are some really nice aspects to the "Breaking the Silence". The story and the concept is very nice, and it is a moving story that will sink right into the heart. And the story is nicely paced and does take the audience along through a somewhat turbulent ride throughout the lives of Sun Liying and Zheng Da.

What makes "Breaking the Silence" stand out is the performances put on by the two lead talents, that being Li Gong (playing Sun Liying) and Xin Gao (playing Zheng Da). They really carried the movie so nicely, and they had a lot of weight to pull as everything was essentially riding on how well they performed. They both stepped up and proved their worth.

While "Breaking the Silence" is a beautiful movie, it is smothered by the overzealous attempts of director Zhou Sun. This was a shame, because it hindered the movie from achieving the greatness that it had potential for.

I am rating "Breaking the Silence" six out of ten stars. It is worth watching if you enjoy Chinese cinema.

OK. So the title Piao Liang Ma Ma means 'Beautiful Mother'. The show is about a single mother from the village living with her hearing-impaired son in the city. She struggles with his condition. Disabled children in China aren't exactly given the best of the best.

After an attempted rape on her by one of her employers, she deems that all men are..you know. BAD.

One day, her son manages to pronounce a word that he has been taking so long to learn. Her hope rises.

Well, I'm not gonna tell you the rest. You just have to watch the movie.

---Rating: 8/10

Fans of Chinese cinema will find nothing new with this film. Gong Li is OK but the story has been told by a million other Chinese films. There have been so many original films coming out of China over the last year with themes and stories that are very new. This is not one of them.

I saw this movie on a poor-quality VCD but the quality of the movie still came through. Gong Li is usually more outstanding in the beauty department than in the acting department, but this time she played a great film in dowdy clothes and almost no makeup.