The Banned Chinese Film Return To Dust
This is a unique film in the history of Chinese cinema and also the most controversial film of 2022.
On its first day of release, the box office was only 300,000 yuan, but no one expected that with the help of the continuously expanding positive word-of-mouth on social media, it quickly surpassed 100 million yuan.
The film’s rating on Douban (a popular Chinese film review website) kept rising and reached 8.4, making it the first Chinese-language film of the year to score above 8 points.
However, at this point, the film was urgently halted, and all theaters, including online platforms, were instructed to take it down. What kind of film is this?
The protagonist is named Ma You Tie, and both his parents and two elder brothers have passed away.
He has been working for his third elder brother, but he has never been paid for his work. Instead, as he grew older, his brother wanted to arrange a marriage for him in order to get rid of him discreetly.
On the day of the blind date, the table was filled with dishes, but Ma You Tie only dared to eat the steamed bun in his hand. Even so, he was still despised by his family.
When Ma You Tie heard his brother’s derogatory remarks, he silently walked out. He brought the donkey back to the stable and squatted on the ground, continuing to eat his steamed bun.
The woman, Gui Ying, whom he was introduced to, is even more unfortunate than Ma You Tie. She also lost both parents at a young age and was raised by her brother and sister-in-law like livestock. She can only sleep in the cowshed. She is often beaten and scolded, which has caused her to have urinary incontinence and scoliosis.
These two marginalized individuals from different walks of life have never even looked at each other. Yet, they end up together.
On their wedding day, Gui Ying has an accident and wets herself. She dares not move and just wants to sit and wait for it to dry.
When Ma You Tie discovers it, he doesn’t say anything. He picks up his clothes and goes outside to feed the donkey, giving her time to handle the situation. When he returns, he finds that she is still motionless.
So he puts charcoal in the stove, then crawls back into bed, facing away from her. Gui Ying takes advantage of his sleeping state and slowly approaches the fire, drying her pants. Unknowingly, she falls asleep. This is the first time she has wet her pants without being subjected to beatings and scolding.
The next day, Ma You Tie took Gui Ying to pay respects to his parents, telling them that they had finally started a family.
They sat on a sand dune, and Ma You Tie took out the offering and handed it to Gui Ying. Seeing her just holding it without any reaction, he advised, “If we don’t eat the food, the deceased won’t be able to enjoy our offering.”
This was their first communication, and sitting together, they found solace in each other.
Suddenly, the son of the richest man in the village and a group of villagers arrived at Ma You Tie’s house. It turned out that his father was ill and urgently needed panda blood, and Ma You Tie was the only one in the village with that blood type.
Gui Ying worried about Ma You Tie’s health and didn’t want him to donate blood.
The rich man’s son told him to name any conditions and promised to immediately settle the debts owed to the villagers if Ma You Tie agreed to donate blood. They used both persuasion and coercion, essentially resorting to moral blackmail.
Honest Ma You Tie could only agree.
On the way, Gui Ying, who had never ridden in a car before, quickly felt sick and hurriedly got out to rest.
The rich man’s son looked disdainful and said, “If you need to pee, you should have said earlier. How did you end up peeing in the car?”
The blood collection vehicle stopped at the rich man’s house, and Ma You Tie and Gui Ying watched as they were presented with delicious dishes they had never seen before. However, they didn’t dare touch their chopsticks and nobody invited them to eat.
Although they were brought over to save a life, it was evident from the plastic covers on the chairs that they were seen as dirty while their blood was being drawn.
After saving the rich man’s life, they didn’t receive any benefits. Even the wheat seeds for planting in the village still had to be obtained on credit from the boss.
The boss couldn’t help but mock him, saying that after working for his brother for decades, Ma You Tie hadn’t received a penny.
Giving blood to the rich man and not even asking for money for the seeds. At that moment, Gui Ying wet herself again. Everyone laughed at her, and Ma You Tie quickly took off his coat and considerately draped it over her.
In the evening, their brother came over. It turned out he had bought a set of furniture for his soon-to-be-married son. He asked Ma You Tie to go to the city and bring it back tomorrow. In his brother’s eyes, Ma You Tie was just free labor. And he never seemed to understand the concept of refusal.
The next day, before dawn, Ma You Tie prepared food for Gui Ying. He reminded her to heat it up for lunch and that he would only be able to return in the evening.
Gui Ying became increasingly concerned about this man, and they became more and more dependent on each other.
In the city, Ma You Tie spotted a coat. If Gui Ying wore it, no one would notice her urinary incontinence. But it cost at least 100 yuan, and Ma You Tie only had 50 yuan, so he reluctantly left.
Coincidentally, the rich man’s son witnessed this scene. He bought the coat for 80 yuan and gave it to Ma You Tie. Ma You Tie didn’t want to accept it, but he still didn’t know how to refuse. He whispered, “Consider it as me borrowing money from you to buy it.”
When they returned to his brother’s house, it was already dark. Not only did Ma You Tie not get any gratitude, but his brother also blamed him for coming back too late.
On the way home, Ma You Tie saw Gui Ying waiting for him at the village entrance. She was shivering in the cold wind, and she took out a hot water bottle from her pocket. It was the hot water she had been keeping warm for a long time, changing it several times.
Ma You Tie draped the coat over Gui Ying, and the two of them slowly walked towards home, leading the donkey.
When spring came, they selected seeds together, cultivated the land together, and sowed together.
What they planted was not only crops but also their hope for a better life.
Gui Ying wanted to raise chicks, so Ma You Tie borrowed ten eggs from a neighbor. He placed them in a cardboard box with small holes and used a light bulb to incubate the eggs. The light shone through the small holes, creating scattered stars on the wall. Gui Ying gazed at the stars in her hand, and Ma You Tie gently shook the light bulb, filling the whole room with a warm atmosphere. It was a moment of romance that belonged to them.
The days were tough and mundane, but they were content. However, the government was carrying out a new rural construction project, and they planned to demolish the vacant houses. Each household would receive a compensation fee of 15,000 yuan. When the homeowners learned about it, they rushed back from out of town overnight and demanded that everyone move out within two days.
Although Gui Ying was reluctant, there was nothing they could do. They helplessly watched as their marital home was leveled by bulldozers, but fortunately, there were still many vacant houses in the village.
The first thing they did after moving into the new empty house was to stick the “Double Happiness” character on the door. The wheat they had planted had sprouted new seedlings, and the eggs had hatched into chicks. It filled them with hope for their lives.
Ma You Tie saw that all the old houses in the village had demolition signs posted on them and knew that it wasn’t a long-term solution. He decided to start building their own house.
They found an empty piece of land and worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk, making adobe bricks. Although they were exhausted and could barely stand straight, they were full of enthusiasm.
One day, the rich man’s son showed up again, wanting to extract blood from Ma You Tie. Worried about his excessive workload and inadequate nutrition, Gui Ying refused. Unexpectedly, he suddenly said, “Does the coat fit well?”
Ma You Tie couldn’t refuse an 80-yuan coat, and there were villagers constantly coming in behind him. If Ma You Tie didn’t agree, they would resort to moral blackmail once again.
As they sat in the car again, the seats were already covered with plastic bags to prevent Gui Ying from wetting herself again.
After having his blood drawn twice that night, Ma You Tie felt sore and aching. Suddenly, a fierce wind blew outside, accompanied by thunder and lightning. They hurriedly went out to protect the adobe bricks.
The storm came too suddenly and fiercely. The two of them were in a frenzy, and Ma You Tie felt sorry for Gui Ying. He draped the plastic bags over Gui Ying and asked her to go back inside.
Seeing their hard work being easily washed away by the rain, the two of them were so busy and exhausted that they couldn’t get up from the ground.
Seeing each other in such a disheveled state, Ma You Tie couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Gui Ying, on the other hand, cried in distress, which made Ma You Tie laugh even more. They decided to stop rushing and started to slowly clean up. After a night of hard work, fortunately, most of the adobe bricks were salvaged.
During the scorching summer, they slept on the roof. Ma You Tie used a belt to tie Gui Ying tightly, afraid that she might fall off. As the villagers said, Ma You Tie was exceptionally good to Gui Ying. He wished he could tie her to his belt.
They started building their house without anyone’s help. It was just the two of them and a donkey, working tirelessly for several days. Finally, they had their own house.
The first thing they did after moving in was to paste the “Double Happiness” character for the third time. At night, Gui Ying lay on the kang bed in their new house and planted a flower on Ma You Tie’s hand using wheat ears. As she witnessed all of this, she still found it hard to believe.
Ma You Tie promised her that after selling the autumn harvest, he would buy her a big television. He also promised to take her to the city for medical treatment. With hope in their lives, they found the motivation to work harder, and finally, it was time for the harvest.
The golden wheat spread all around, shimmering like gold. Ma You Tie filled a donkey cart with wheat, and Gui Ying wanted to help, but her curved spine prevented her from lifting anything.
Ma You Tie felt sorry for the wheat and couldn’t help but say a few words to her. He got off the cart and started doing it himself, while Gui Ying tried to assist him but was pushed away by him.
He looked at the woman who had been helping him all along and realized that he hadn’t taken Gui Ying’s physical condition into consideration. He didn’t know how to comfort her and could only silently move the bundles of wheat.
On the way back home, Gui Ying was still upset. Ma You Tie comforted her and let her sit on the donkey cart. The two of them quickly reconciled and made up.
The joy of the autumn harvest was the best gift they could receive throughout the year. Roses couldn’t be grown in the desert of the northwest, so the pattern of wheat became their best expression of love.
Ma You Tie and Gui Ying’s life became more and more promising. They not only raised chickens but also started raising piglets in their yard.
At this time, Ma You Tie’s third brother came over, carrying leftovers from his son’s wedding feast, claiming that he hadn’t invited Ma You Tie to the celebration because he saw him busy with the house construction. The government had introduced a poverty alleviation policy, where extremely poor households could obtain an 80-square-meter house by paying a little over 10,000 yuan. He knew that Ma You Tie had no children and would not leave the countryside, so he applied for a house in his own name.
When the apartment building was allocated, he invited Ma You Tie and Gui Ying to visit the house, but it was actually for himself to see.
During the third blood donation to the wealthy man, Ma You Tie hoped that he could quickly repay the debt to the villagers. The wealthy man’s son couldn’t help but laugh, saying that he was still drawing blood himself and yet thinking about others. He promised to settle the debt after the autumn harvest.
However, in the end, he didn’t pay the money but instead used corn to offset the debt. In the city, corn was sold at 0.8 yuan per kilogram, but he charged the villagers 1 yuan per kilogram.
When it was Ma You Tie’s turn, he voluntarily proposed deducting the money for that coat. The wealthy man’s son laughed again, either finding him amusing or mocking his stubbornness. Nevertheless, Ma You Tie actually deducted the amount.
On that day, their chicken finally laid its first egg, but before Ma You Tie could rejoice, Gui Ying sat dizzy on the ground. It turned out she had a fever, so Ma You Tie quickly helped her to bed and cooked a bowl of noodles with the egg for her.
That was the most nutritious thing they had in their home, and Gui Ying hesitated to eat it. She felt like she was a worthless person. In the past, she lived in a cowshed and never fell ill despite wind and rain. Now that their lives had improved, she fell sick. She wanted to give the egg to Ma You Tie instead. However, he persuaded her, saying that they would have eggs every day in the future.
If life had fewer unexpected events, how happy they would have been. One day, when Ma You Tie returned home after working on the farm, an old man near the water channel told him that Gui Ying was looking for him with the egg and steamed bun but ended up feeling dizzy and falling into the ditch.
Ma You Tie panicked upon hearing this, but when he picked up Gui Ying, she had already passed away.
Ma You Tie took down the “Double Happiness” character that had been pasted three times and replaced it with the deceased Gui Ying’s portrait. He planted another wheat pattern on his hand.
No one congratulated them on their wedding, and no one mourned at the funeral. Ma You Tie burned a television for Gui Ying; it was his promise.
Afterward, he sold all the harvested grain and ended up being cheated by a unscrupulous merchant. Yet, Ma You Tie silently endured it. Then he unloaded all the burdens from the donkey’s back, wanting to set it free. But the donkey was already accustomed to being bound and stood there dumbly. Ma You Tie scornfully said, “Even if I let you go, you won’t leave? I’ve made you work for more than half of your life, isn’t that enough? What a worthless creature!”
If a horse had iron, it would become a donkey, and he was speaking about himself.
He then paid off all the debts he had previously incurred: the seeds and fertilizers for spring farming, the pesticides, the two bags of potatoes owed during house construction, the ten borrowed eggs from a neighbor, and 2,400 yuan. That was the harvest of their year-long hard work.
When he returned home, he ate an egg for the first time in his life. It was according to Gui Ying’s wish. Then he slowly climbed onto the kang bed, and on the table, there was an empty bottle. The contents inside, presumably, had already been consumed by Ma You Tie.
He quietly lay on the bed, holding the grass donkey woven by Gui Ying in his left hand and the wheat flower he had planted in his right hand. It was their mark of meeting. He knew he should catch up because Gui Ying had limited mobility and couldn’t go far…
In the final scene of the movie, his nephew came and took away the pig and chickens, as well as the 15,000 yuan dismantling subsidy.
Accompanied by the roar of the bulldozer, the lives of Ma You Tie and Gui Ying, just like this house, faded into the dust, as if they had never been there…
Suffering should never be glorified, but no one has the right to deny its existence.
When one has enjoyed a life of abundance for too long, they become accustomed to looking down on life from a high position. However, please do not forget that the ones who suffer the most are often the ones who cannot voice their pain.
Resource:
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/%E9%9A%90%E5%85%A5%E5%B0%98%E7%83%9F