Indian Film Culture.P65 - federation of film societies of india

Zhang Yimou and his Images
� H. N. Narahari Rao
Zhang Yimou’s films are always a treat to watch. When his film Red Sorghum (1987) won the Golden
Bear at the Berlin Festival in 1987, it heralded a new era of Chinese films from the Fifth Generation
Filmmakers that made a big impression on the western critics’ world. His subsequent films have always
won wide acclaim and are well received by the film society members in India as well.
T
hang Yimou is undisputedly one of the
universally acclaimed filmmakers who
is able to deservedly enter the field to
occupy the void created by the end of
the celebrities of the erstwhile era, of the 1950s
and 60s like Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa, Ray
and the other masters. He is identified as one of
the prominent representative of what is gener-
August 2010 / Indian Film Culture 30
ally known as the Chinese Fifth Generation Film directors.
If one has to make an in-depth study of the works of
Zhang Yimou it is quite essential to know something, at
least briefly about his early life which plays a significant
role in all his films that made a big impact at the international
level.
Zhang’s early life was quite a tough one. His father served
under the rule of Nationalist party of Chiang Kai-Shek,