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Article: The Story of Qiu Ju.
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- May 3, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 The Nation Company L.P. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Bundled up in an old quilted jacket, her belly swollen, her face masked with road dust and grime, the actress Gong Li isn't merely in costume, waddling onto the screen in The Story of Qiu Ju. She's incognito. Although Gong Li is the closest thing China has to an international star, she makes her first appearance in long shot, so that shes almost indistinguishable from the other figures on the wintry village street. In a sense, that's what The Story of Qiu Ju is about. A woman who on first sight seems ordinary turns out to be anything but.
As the film opens, the character Qiu Ju has made a trip to the village on foot, hauling along her injured husband in a wooden ...