Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles

The last two films from Zhang Yimou (House of Flying Daggers and Hero) were epic stories set in romanticized history and filled with lavish visuals and effects. Both films are delights of storytelling and cinematography, as is his new film, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, but in a different way.

Riding Alone is a much more personal story, set in present day Japan and China. It is the story of Takata, an aging fisherman, who is called to Tokyo because his estranged son, Ken-ichi, is seriously ill. When he gets there, however, the son refuses to see him. Takata's daughter-in-law keeps trying to work out some reconciliation. She gives Takata a video Ken-ichi has made of Chinese folk opera. In the tape, Ken-ichi expresses a desire to return to film leading opera performer Li Jiamin perform the folk opera Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, a tale of General Guan Yu who became the personification of loyalty for Chinese because he made a long arduous journey to help a friend. Takata decides to go to China to film this for his dying son.

It is not an easy task. The first problem is that he doesn't speak Chinese, so everything needs to be through interpreters (some of whom are not very skilled). He is in a land where he knows no one and can speak with no one. When he gets to Li's village, it is discovered that Li has been arrested and sentenced to three years in jail. Even this doesn't dissuade Takata. He goes through the bureaucracy to get permission to film Li at the prison. But once there, Li is unable to perform because of depression over a son he has never met. Soon Takata is traveling to an even more distant village to bring the boy, Yang Yang, to his father.

All through the story, Takata is welcomed by strangers: translators, bureaucrats, even a whole village. At the same time, Takata is trying to do good for others. He is trying to bring what he thinks will be a special treat to his son. He also tries to bring reconciliation to Li and his son. That reconciliation may serve as a surrogate for the reconciliation he wishes he could have with his own son.

While not as sweeping as Zhang's recent films, it is just as epic when seen as a personal odyssey. Just as Gen.Guan traveled alone, so too does Takata travel in a type of solitude. And his travels are all built not around himself, but around trying to do something for others - strangers - the son he doesn't know, the singer he has only just met, and a young boy he doesn't know.

Visually, the story is also much more personal. Although there are still great landscapes, albeit more severe than the Hidden Daggers and Hero, the real visual gems are seen in Takata's, face. Takakura Ken, who plays Takata, masterfully shows us the stoicism of the character even as he shows his brokenness.

While I'm sure the film isn't meant to be read from a Christian theological standpoint, it is certainly easy to do since the film deals so plainly with the idea of reconciliation. Takata is a father who yearns to be reconciled with his son, even when the son rejects his attempts. Takata also recognizes the need of Li and Yang Yang to begin the relationship they both need, even if Yang Yang is not ready for that relationship yet.

The desire to be reconciled is a key characteristic of God's relationship to humankind. Even before we are ready to reach out to God, God reaches out to us. God is willing to go to great lengths to achieve that reconciliation, and God never gives up.

The film also underscores our being bound to those around us. Even the strangers we meet in our journeys are those with whom we can establish relationships that feed one another in ways that we can never be fed by ourselves. In a scene in the Stone Village, where Takata has gone to find Yang Yang, the village is having a banquet honoring this stranger who has come to him. The camera pans along the table running the length of the street. It just keeps going and going – a never ending table to welcome a stranger.

Because it touches on universal human issues, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles is a richly spiritual film. We should always be looking for ways of being reconciled in our lives - with family, with strangers, and, most certainly, with God.