jiang xian use the complex backstory of ling ling and mao daobing to study mao cultural revolution ( 1966 1976 ) at the village level . the film have the element and pace of chinese opera and so appear slow and sometimes sentimental to the foreign viewer . but the movie provide a window onto contemporary life in china and with it focus upon villager in the city and the consume quality of subsistence daily struggle and family and local cruelty and the appeal of movie a escape and fantasy and and and ultimately and a source of community . this last be the most radical element in the film and for it suggest the modern and universal experience of culture will replace the insular chinese tradition . the child actor be particularly fine .