Beyond the Clouds
我本是高山
China, 2023, colour, 1.85:1, 129 mins.
Directors: Zheng Dasheng 郑大圣, Yang Jin 杨瑾.
Rating: 6/10.
Portrait of a pioneering Mainland teacher rises above simple hagiography thanks to a terrific performance by actress Hai Qing.
STORY
Lijiang town, Yunnan province, southwest China, 2008. At the opening ceremony of Lijiang Huaping Girls’ Senior High, the building is still only half-finished, and the ceremony, with all the pupils present, ends in chaos. The school is the brainchild of teacher Zhang Guimei (Hai Qing), to provide the first girls’ high school in the region aimed at poor rural families: there are no fees (apart from meal payments) or entrance qualifications, in order to encourage families to send their daughters for further education. One girl brings along her own goose to provide eggs; others only want to have fun in town at night and have to be rounded up by the teaching staff. Zhang Guimei forces all the girls to cut their hair to chin length. One girl, Shanying (Meiduo Dawa), the elder sister of student Shanyue (Zhao Ruiting), refuses but finally gives in. 2008, Year One 高一. The teachers vent their frustrations to Zhang Guimei about getting the pupils to study, but she refuses to take their side. During a half-term break when the students go home, the teaching staff organise a roof party and bitch about her. Zhang Guimei actually has no previous experience as a headmistress; she also has her own problems: her husband died of cancer and she takes heavy medication for various health problems. Shanying goes truant and gets a job on a building site to pay for her brighter sister Shanyue’s expenses. Zhang Guimei first publically punishes her but then supports and encourages her. However, when their mother falls ill at home in the mountains, both sisters have to leave suddenly. When the school is visited by provincial governor Yu (Zhang Fengyi), Zhang Guimei uses the opportunity to get more facilities. The local head of education, Liang (Yang Haoyu), who has always opposed the school’s creation, is furious; but Zhang Guimei promises 70% of the students will qualify for top-tier universities at the end of their third year. She puts up a banner: 938 days to the gaokao (university entrance exam). After Zhang Guimei has another crackdown on the teachers, cancelling their weekend leave, Xu Yingying (Chai Ye) and some others walk out: as well as having no money to pay the staff, the school still owes builders RMB150,000 and the electricity may soon be cut off. Liang comes up with a plan to relocate all the students and close down the school. Zhang Guimei gives an inspiring farewell address to the students, underlining the importance of them continuing their studies. After a major storm, she wakes up to find that the girls, and some teachers, have returned, to pull together. When Zhang Guimei hears Shanyue is to be married off, she goes to her home in the mountains, gives the girl’s father RMB800 and takes Shanyue back with her. 2009, Year Two 高二. All the students, now in proper uniforms and facing the national flag, recite the school’s official anthem, which begins “I Was Born a Great Mountain, Not a Small Stream” 我本是高山而非溪流. The school is filled with a new positive energy. However, when Zhang Guimei’s own daughter, teacher Fu Chunying (Liu Yase), says she’s unexpectedly pregnant, Zhang Guimei angrily dismisses her, saying she was meant to be a role model to the girls. After a row between two pupils, high-achieving Tang Xiaoping (Guo Li’na) and half-deaf Jiu Duoyun (Luo Jieyan), Zhang Guimei goes into the mountains to collect Tang Xiapong’s alcoholic mother and arranges a hearing aid for Jiu Duoyun. But her own health is worsening, and she refuses to see a doctor. 2010, Year Three 高三. The studenta all push on towards the gaokao, though most of them are only aiming for vocational colleges, not top-tier universities. But then one day Zhang Guimei collapses and is hospitalised, unconscious.
REVIEW
A portrait of pioneering teacher Zhang Guimei 张桂梅, who started the first girls’ high school in Lijiang, Yunnan province, aimed at poor rural families, Beyond the Clouds 我本是高山 generally rises above simple hagiography thanks to a terrific lead performance by Hai Qing 海清, 47, who’s mostly been a TV actress but has still given some memorable performances on the big screen (the physician’s wife in Sacrifice 赵氏孤儿, 2010; bolshie reporter in Operation Red Sea 红海行动, 2018; lame peasant wife in Return to Dust 隐入尘烟, 2022). Though it really doesn’t need to be over two hours long, and would benefit from about 15 minutes’ cutting in the second half, it’s an easy sit and does pack an emotional punch in its final moments. Box office late last year was a polite RMB97 million.
Looking like a much more glamorous version of the real-life character, Hai Qing – stage name of Jiangsu-born Huang Yi 黄怡 – manages to make Zhang Guimei interesting without playing down her weaknesses, portraying her as utterly selfless in her quest to educate underprivileged rural girls but also utterly selfish in the way she uses other teachers for her own ambitions. Much of this approach comes from the screenplay by Yuan Yuan 袁媛 (Go Away Mr. Tumor! 滚蛋吧！肿瘤君, 2015; Us and Them 后来的我们, 2018; Tomorrow Will Be Fine 明天会好的, 2021) and newcomer Chen Qiling 陈麒凌, which avoids simple heroine worship and constantly underlines the real day-to-day problems of Zhang Guimei’s personal obsession. It’s also equally due to the performance-centred approach by directors Zheng Dasheng 郑大圣 and Yang Jin 杨瑾, the first a very experienced film-maker in his mid-50s who’s traversed both the commercial and indie sectors, TV and film (Bangzi Melody 村戏, 2017), the second a more arthouse name in his early 40s who’s known for rural dramas like Er Dong 尔冬 (2008), When I was Eight Years Old 那年八岁 (2017) and Batie Girl 巴铁女孩 (2019), all hardcore festival fare, plus d.p. work for directors like Li Ruijun 李睿珺 (Return to Dust) and Cui Zi’en 崔子恩.
After a 15-minute section introducing the main character and the school, the film breaks down into three parts, each titled with a year in the run-up to the gaokao (university entrance exam) but also with different focuses. The first, and longest at around 45 minutes, centres on all the early problems that almost sink the project but are overcome – notably – by mass effort as everyone pulls together; the second focuses more on individual stories among the girls; and the third provides a dramatic finale as the gaokao arrives. The strongest stuff is in the first hour; the second hour more and more uses familiar dramatic tropes as it zooms in on individual stories.
Hai Qing’s performance dominates the movie, but she’s given quality support by the whole cast, especially actress Liu Yase 刘雅瑟 guesting as her daughter, actor Hu Ge 胡歌 ditto in wordless, idealised scenes as her partner, and young actress Chai Ye 柴烨 (who debuted strongly in The Oldtown Girls 兔子暴力, 2020) as a rebellious teacher. The clean, bright visuals by d.p. Wang Shiqing 汪士卿 (Yunnan-set Always 爱未央, 2013; kind-of-doc The Reunions 吉祥如意, 2020; The Oldtown Girls) conjure up a good-looking realism without overdoing it. The music score supervised by Taiwan-born Varqa Buehrer 贝尔 (Better Days 少年的你, 2019; Sunny Sisters 阳光姐妹淘, 2021) is gentle, occasionally becoming more motoric for montage sequences. Documentary footage of the real Zhang Guimei is shown during the end titles.
The film’s Chinese title literally means “I Was Born a Great Mountain”, from the first words of the school’s official anthem that stresses the importance of not underrating yourself.
CREDITS
Presented by Ruili Qianhai Culture Media (CN), Yunnan Lucent Pictures (CN), Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Cultural Media (CN), Emei Film Group (CN), Bright East (Beijing) Films (CN), Shandong TV Media (CN), China Film (CN). Produced by Ruili Qianhai Culture Media (CN), Bright East (Beijing) Films (CN).
Script: Yuan Yuan, Chen Qiling. Script supervision: Jia Zhijie [Alex Jia]. Photography: Wang Shiqing. Editing: Kong Jinlei. Music supervision: Varqa Buehrer. Art direction: Li Chuanyong. Styling: Liu Ning, Liu Jiayu. Sound: Long Xiaozhu, Zhang Jinyan. Visual effects: Li Tao. Executive direction: Li Shengda.
Cast: Hai Qing (Zhang Guimei), Chen Yongsheng (Lu Nanshan), Chai Ye (Xu Yingying), Wang Yueting (Long Zhaohong), Wan Guopeng (Feng Baozhi), Meiduo Dawa (Shanying), Zhao Ruiting (Shanyue), Luo Jieyan (Jiu Duoyun), Guo Li’na (Tang Xiaoping), Pan Jiayan (Wang Cai’e), Liu Yase (Fu Chunying), Yang Haoyu (Liang), Hu Ge (Dong), Zhang Fengyi (Yu, provincial governor), Li Chen (coach driver), Liu Yijun (Liu, cadre), Sun Shaolan (Sun, cadre), Li Yixiao (Li, cadre), Qin Hailu (Qin, cadre).
Release: China, 24 Nov 2023.