The Red Detachment Of Women [红色娘子军] is a 1961 film based upon a novel written by Liang Xin; later it went on to be adapted as a ballet piece of such magnitude and popularity that set many of the 'socialist realism' tropes from then on, being considered among ''The Eight Model Plays'' of the Revolutionary Period in China. Thus, we are before a widely known historical propaganda-piece which strongly shaped the aesthetic preferences and set of beliefs of the Chinese (and Korean) people, at the time undergoing a chaotic period during which many changes and suffering were to befall them. As such, The Red Detachment Of Women remains a historical must-watch Chinese film, despite of the realism (or lack thereof) of the events portrayed on it; film is by its very nature art and also propaganda of a way of life, as long as it does not pretend itself scientific. It also tells us a lot concerning the mentality of a people experiencing a period and culture quite different from ours: it does not matter how much ''reality'' a North Korean film depicts, you'll learn quite a lot more from everyday North Korean citizens, who consume them everyday, in the case of you watching them rather than not doing so.
Also, we come from a culture which, intentionally or not, assures us propaganda is an easy-peasy one trick pony, easy to recognize. Giant banners with Stalin or Hitler's face on them, overacting North Korean news anchors, patriotic military parades or constant epiphet-ing such as ''Our Great Leader/Nation/Saviour'' are things which naturally pop in our minds when we hear of propaganda films. Yet most North Korean films do not use any of that, really; take as an example ''A Traffic Controller on Crossroads'' (1986) a cute family drama set in Pyongyang. On other contexts such as the infamous ''Birth of a Nation'' (1915), an American movie set on the Reconstruction period, those elements are also lacking. Yet, it fulfilled its mission as a racist propaganda piece which inspired the very foundation of the Ku Klux Klan. By acknowledging this, we will not only be more cautious about the media we ourselves consume everyday, but also learn and even enjoy the display of openly ideologic elements in period films such as this one. In fact, The Red Detachment Of Women not only lacks the monotonous breast-beating patriotism we commonly associate with communist productions but in fact reveals itself as an incredible endeavour considering its historical moment. Of course, some elements are there: the actors assume the classic stoic poses reminiscent of soviet realist art at times, powerfully superimposing themselves against the background. There are red banners and chants. But there is also a compelling story, lickable (even if somewhat stiff) characters, a quite competent technical work and focus on what indeed was a revolutionary concept: army women in China during the Cultural Revolution Period.
The film depicts the liberation of a peasant girl (Qionghua) in Hainan Island, her revolt against a local tycoon (Nan Batian), and her joining the historic all-female Special Company of the 2nd Independent Division of Chinese Red Army. Driven by a desire of revenge, and facing the persecution of the national forces (Kuomintang at the time), she joins other destituted women of rural China on her search for a new order for the country. Among them, one is bounded to her deceased husband, years older than her at the moment of her being sold to him; she is virtually a slave servant to his family, and carries his remains within an effigy. The sad truth is that, in fact, the ferociously patriarchal China assured women had a lower status than men at virtually everything, by virtue not only of the traditional Confucian philosophy which assigned them only the homely sphere but also many practises sadly common around the world at the time: female infanticide, forced marriage and downright human trafficking were common among the poorer social extracts, considering the scarce resources of rural areas. Another traditional Chinese custom was of course foot-binding, still quite prevalent during the XIX century; this feat was so instilled in traditional-minded people that, despite its banning during the Cultural Revolution (under the threat of harsh punishment), some people still practised it well into the XX century.
To be precise, this started to change before the actual Cultural Revolution, during the events of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911; many anti-Qing dynasty (China's last Imperial lineage) women were active both in the political and military arenas trying to not only cause the downfall of the military chiefs still holding to the monarchy, but also to create a new China, more just for women. These women came from different ideological and social backgrounds, but their demands were barely listened to among the chaos and reformism of a turbulent period in China. There were many possibilities ahead, in the span of just a few years: a democratic-republican China, a fascist China, China as a Japanese Imperial Colony, and of course, a socialist China. These reformist women, activists, spies and officers among them, were trapped inside a conflict so vast that included a triple civil war but also a war against foreign countries. Of all these parties, as is widely known at this point, the communists were triumphant; and, at least concerning feminism in China, they certainly provided a great leap forward on this matter, including the New Marriage Act (1950) and the foot-binding ban. The Red Detachment Of Women is set at this point, when the Communist Party Of China was at its formative period, turning more popular by the day. Of course, the film blissfully simplifies all this conflict, and the enthusiasm of the common people, revolting against their local wealthy oppressors. As a ''national'' film, goodies and baddies are required.
As a result of the almost feudal conditions during the late Qing dinasty, land distribution was overly concentrated among few aristocrats and wealthy inheritors, who also monitored, punished and pretty much owned those who inhabited and worked their land as a local authority. This was to some degree similar to its Russian or Japanese equivalent, althoght the latter had already began a departure from the exclusively hereditary samurai-caste ownership of lands to a class-oriented capitalist one. Assisted by government officials who collected taxes and notified to a central government (which used to be the throne), the more powerful among these Chinese landlords were in fact also warlords, and these regional assemblies of resources, land, armies and power constitued the movile parts of the Imperial Army before its fall from power. During the following Republic of China they also became liabilities to the nationalist party, who supported them along the Civil War in order to gather resources and form zones of influence capable of resisting the relentless smiting of both communist forces and the Japanese army. As land property reform was perhaps the main interest of the Communist Party once its ruled was ensued, this film provides its cinematic justification a few decades after the well known decentralized bloodshed following the mass killing or displacement of these previously powerful landlords, in the vast territory of unified China.
This is perhaps the reason behind the official support and in fact praise of the film, which in turn created an interest in the original novel (apparently based on a real story written by a female soldier of the 2nd Independent Division) and sparked the famous revolutionary opera going by the same name. It unifies very clearly the opposing powers of the Chinese Civil War: a greedy and cruel landlord resenting the losing of his feud and power, the oportunistic and bully nature of the national soldiers, supporting him against the peasants just to raise a profit for their side, and we even get to see what appear to be ''boxer'' soldiers on a fight scene at the very end, the anti-foreigner independent troops who shocked both Imperial China and the Western powers decades earlier and who later went on to engross the National side against both the Imperial and the Communist causes. On the other hand, it glorifies a main character personifying the highest aspirations of the Communist side: she comes from the rock bottom of society (hence the class struggle), faces torture at the hands of the local landlord (thus ratifying her stance) and she is also a determined woman creating a new, iconic image of the girls of the New China: she rocks a practic, bobbed haircut (never seen before) and the skills needed to compete with men on an equal footing on both education and military exercise (which exemplifies all manual labour to the highest degree). The thing is, unlike its soviet counterpart, China delivered a stark change to the lives of these new girls, born during and after the Revolutionary Period: many joined student trips spanning all the national territory, and were given the role of educators and reformers of the countryside, bringing the latest industrial discoveries to rural areas, and joining collective farms while undergoing military training. They were free to marry whoever they wanted, and work for themselves. Yet the strong impulse eventually banished, when the central government opted for a ''socialism with Chinese characteristics'', which not only established powerful doctrinal differences with western and soviet marxism, but also allowed and in fact promoted some traditional aspects of ''Chinese culture'', thus ratifying a traditional view on morals, including the family, sexual
behaviour and general demeanor. Thus, even if women still retain all these past conquests, there is as much gender inequality in China as in other countries, and the cultural consideration of, as an example, unmarried women or homosexuality, is quite traditional and old-fashioned. And the country itself more nationalistic than communist.
After me ranting this long abount the film's historical and political context (both the one of its creation and the one it depicts) please, don't think this film is a boring-ass unidimentional depiction of a conflict long gone. This is actually an engaging film despite its political overtone, and offers fine scenery, color production and camera perspective, all of which makes it a favourite of many Chinese people after so many years. Beautifully shot, it attempts to bring a credible human face to much of this turbulent historical period. It offers concessions such as depicting the public humilliation of former
landowners by his servants. It denotes a careful attention to historical detail in costumes and architecture. Its depiction of proleterian feminism is pretty much unique on the history of cinematography anywhere, and its a fundamental movie in order to understand how most of China thinks about its recent history: an imperfect but necessary way to overcome its feudal and almost colonial past, which still loomed near the beggining of the XX century.
Back then a poor and fragmented Empire near its end, China industrialized itself and became the second world power without even going out of its own borders, in less than a century. Thus, its citizens identify many of these steps forward not with democracy, but with the march forward of the Chinese Communist Party: industrialization, universal modern education and, also, the woman's liberation movement. This difference of perceptions, which in fact stems from different historic and material opportunities, is still characteristic of the modern Chinese political discourse, now far from Marx and usually named ''Dengism'', which we might call an ''autocratic technocracy'' with local (not national) elections. The so-called ''revisionism'', a deadly accusation in Mao's times (and so ridiculed by critics during the 60s: also Godard, of course), is now the everyday method of the Chinese government of dealing with itself, its name and its past.
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