A still from the movieDirector: Wang Xuebo
Language: Mandarin
The film Knife In The Clear Water is the story of an old widower who tries to keep his beloved bull from being slaughtered for his dead wife’s ‘40-day disappearance’ ceremony.
The movie opens with the funeral of Ma Zishan’s wife. As the dirt-poor household has no means to conduct the traditional memorial service after the mourning period, Ma’s estranged son Yakub suggests that they sacrifice the family bull for the feast. However, Ma is not too sure about it.
During the mourning period, a lonely Ma develops a new found friendship with the bull that has grown old with him. In a way, he is mourning the death of his wife as well as the bull’s imminent death.
One day, the bull stops eating and drinking much to the surprise of Yakub as if it is aware of its impending doom, much like the legend that animals foresee their deaths before it’s sacrificed. At the same time, Ma is troubled by the thought of his own death and relates it with the bull’s fate.
Both the deceased wife and the bull worked hard for the family with little or no appreciation when they were alive. Although the Imam says that sacrifice of the bull will honor Zishan’s wife and thereby, grant the beast a higher purpose, he doubts the relevance of a posthumous honor for the hardships on earth.
The 40-day mourning period witnesses a transition of seasons, which concludes with a snowy winter that monochromatizes the landscapes and lives. Unable to witness his bull’s death, Ma walks away from home toward his wife’s funeral ground. Being surrounded with identical tombs covered in snow, he fails to recognize his wife’s burial place. This makes him realize that all deaths are the same and he questions the point of ‘fictional’ afterlife as suggested by religious scholars.
Wang Weihua’s cinematography keeps the audience spellbound as it brilliantly captures the enticing beauty of the mountains in China’s Ningxia province. The camera is mostly steady and the frames maintain an artistic balance. All in all, the film looks like a moving gallery of paintings. Many shots in the film last over a minute and involve little or less camera movement.
Although the plot turns were highly predictable, the freshness of the frames will keep you hooked.
