Cao Zhen

    caozhen0806@126.com

    LOST in modern society, confusion of identity and escape from loneliness are the themes of Tibetan director Pema Tseden’s realistic movie “Tharlo.”

    Adapted from the novelist/director’s short story of the same name, the two-hour movie centers on Tharlo, an unworldly 40-year-old shepherd who has a remarkable memory that enables him to recite a long essay written by Chairman Mao. He has also memorized the features of each of his 300-plus sheep, but he can’t remember his own name and age. He never goes outside of his village, has never dated a woman, and has no idea why a person needs an ID card to prove his identity. When he is sent by the village police to be photographed in town for an ID card, his fateful encounter with a modern girl changes his entire life.

    Non-judgmental portrayal of Tibetan life is Pema Tseden’s trademark in his short stories and movies. He deliberately avoids depicting the picturesque Tibetan landscape, only displaying the roughness of contemporary Tibetan life. This time, he shot “Tharlo” in black and white, hinting at the stubbornness of the protagonist who simply believes that the world is either black or white and people are either good or bad.

    The movie tactfully portrays Tharlo embarking on a journey to find his “identity” (ID card), only to find himself lost in the bewilderingly modern world. His name means “escape” in Tibetan, but he doesn’t know what direction he is going. He finally loses his sense of self and no longer sees himself as a man with a history that he recognizes.

    “Tharlo is typical of rural Tibetans from the present generation. They are innocent and have never seen the outside world,” said Pema Tseden in an interview with the Shenzhen Daily on Sunday, when the movie was shown at an art-house movie event in OCT-LOFT.

    “In rural Tibetan areas where I’m from, there are many people like the 40-year-old Tharlo, those who have been through the Cultural Revolution and can recite Chairman Mao’s texts from memory. But now they are alienated from modern society. There are also young modern Tibetans who have come out of the mountains and adapted to city life, like the girl in the movie, but if she moves to a more sophisticated city, she will also have confusion problems.”

    Coming from the Tibetan region of Amdo in Qinghai Province, the 46-year-old director admitted that when he studied in middle school in town, he had the same uneasy feeling of the encroaching tide of modernity.

    To adapt his 22-page short story into a two-hour movie, the director adds heavy symbolism, metaphors and, sometimes, humor. The movie is slow burning, with long takes and fixed shots that give the audience plenty of time to sense Tharlo’s loneliness and struggle. When Tharlo is in town, he is always presented on the margin of the frames, but when he is back in his village, he is in the center. “Tharlo is isolated and alienated in town. He is a stranger to everyone and he doesn’t feel like a part of the modern world. When he is herding in the village, he is the center of his life,” said Pema Tseden.

    The movie also excels with the heavy use of mirrors. The fling between the inexperienced Tharlo and the alluring town girl Yangtso, a hairdresser, is awkward and compelling. The director exquisitely presents many scenes of the two through the mirrors in the barber shop. “The mirrors show the suspenseful and fake relationship of the two. Tharlo is smitten and thinks it is true love,” said Pema Tseden.

    The director even included a 20-minute scene without dialogue, only showing Tharlo’s harsh, dull and lonely life in the village — herding during the day, drinking and listening to the radio at night in his shabby hut. The 20-minute scene of Tharlo’s solitude not only sharply contrasts with his pleasures in town but also convinces the audience to accept Tharlo’s fatal decision.

    The movie was nominated for four major awards at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards: best film, best screenplay, best cinematography and best director. The results will be announced Nov. 21 in Taiwan.

    Pema Tseden’s previous movies have been shown at numerous international film festivals, and the screening of “Tharlo” at the Venice Film Festival and Vancouver Film Festival represents a breakthrough for him.

    “Competing in these prestigious international events makes me think about my future as a filmmaker. I hope my movies could be universally accepted and in the future I will strike a balance to help people who don’t know much about Chinese history to understand my movies,” he said.

    Pema Tseden studied Tibetan literature at Northwest University for Nationalities in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. Since 1991, he has published more than 50 novels and short fiction pieces in both Tibetan and Mandarin. His short story collections have been translated into French (“Neige”) and Japanese and published in the West. An English translation of some of his short stories will be published in America soon.

    He told the Shenzhen Daily in an earlier interview that he listened to folk stories on the radio when he was a child and was fascinated by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s and Mo Yan’s magical realism novels in the 1980s.

    His direct writing style is powerful and his humorous tone when writing about the mystical nature of ethnic Tibetans is captivating. He has sometimes used magical realism, but his characters are portrayed as true to life.

    Having a passion for movies, he studied directing at the Beijing Film Academy and shot several art-house movies on Tibetan life, such as “The Silent Holy Stones” (2005), “The Search” (2007) and “The Old Dog” (2011).

    Pema Tseden is not certain when “Tharlo” will be screened in large theaters, saying that there’s a great need for art-house movies in China, but there’s no good system set up to show art-house movies for larger audiences here.

    He is now preparing to shoot a new movie based on one of his short stories and a friend’s story. This will be a magical realism movie centered on a Tibetan whose life lasts only one day.

    Having been in Beijing for more than 10 years, Pema Tseden said he would keep writing stories and making movies about Tibetan life and has no interest in exploring Beijing themes. “Qinghai is my hometown; I particularly want to tell the stories of Tibetan culture,” he said.