In the early years of the Republic of China, Yangjia'ao, a remote mountain village in western Hunan Province, ushered in a flower palanquin. Out of the palanquin came xiao Xiao, a 12-year-old girl.
She opened her wide and curious eyes and felt that everything was so new. She didn't know what marriage meant to her, she thought it was a hilarity, she just became a wife and regarded marriage as a lively game, she played with her husband who was a few years younger than herself during the day, coaxed him to sleep at night, and helped her mother-in-law wash and feed the pigs. The days were like the water of the Xiang River slowly flowing forward, and Xiao Xiao was like a crazy girl playing in the mountains with her little husband and brother.
6 years later, Xiao Xiao became a big girl, her chest stood tall, she felt the changes in her body, there was a kind of blood boiling in Xiao Xiao's body, and the flower dog broke into Xiao Xiao's life. Love is always sweet, the flower dog and Xiao Xiao wantonly enjoy the beauty of youth, the fragrance of love, but forget that Xiao Xiao is a child bridesmaid, living in a remote mountain village with strict ethnic rules.
When Xiao Xiao was pregnant, Xiao Xiao and the flower dog were anxious, at this time, the widow Qiao Xiu Niang and the blacksmith were both caught and raped, in that feudal mountain village, this is a very evil thing, according to the family rules, Qiao Xiu Niang was sunk in the pond, the blacksmith was broken legs, that night, the whole village came to the river, watching Qiao Xiu Niang was put on a millstone, brought to the river center, Qiao Xiu Call Niang, Qiao Xiu Niang's dead heart was awakened, but she was powerless to change her fate, she could only take a deep look at the child, just this glance, let me see a mother's reluctance and helplessness, It also made me see a woman's protest against an unjust fate, although she was powerless to change, she still longed for a loving life, but all this calmed down with her miserable scream.
The people on the shore all watched the tragedy silently, no one stopped, no one interceded for this poor woman, the men who were high above them all looked at the woman they thought was dirty with a disdainful look, and the women who should have sympathized with the woman chose indifference, they also thought that this was a dirty woman, a woman who corrupted the door, it was a tragedy, life became humble in the face of so-called morality, feudal etiquette made people numb, and bad customs became a blood-dripping butcher knife. And the people with the knife are these seemingly kind but incomparably cruel villagers, which is the sadness of the times and the distortion of human nature.
The Shentang incident frightened the flower dog, he left Xiao Xiao and chose to escape, leaving Xiao Xiao pregnant to face the coming storm alone. This is more similar to the scene of Si Qi and his cousin running away alone in "Dream of the Red Chamber", the man chose to escape, and the woman should face the storm.
Seeing this, I can't help but start worrying about Xiao Xiao's fate, worried that she will be sunk like Qiao Xiuniang, fortunately, because Xiao Xiao is pregnant, afraid of one corpse and two lives, Xiao Xiao turned into a ghost and came back to take revenge, Xiao Xiao's family pleaded hard, Xiao Xiao did not die, gave birth to a son, and the kind in-laws finally accepted this child.
Time turns, when the former child daughter-in-law Xiao Xiao began to marry a daughter-in-law for her ten-year-old son, did she remember that she had also had love, that strong man had brought her dreams of life, and the dream of becoming a schoolgirl, these have gradually drifted away, and she has finally become a woman like a mother-in-law.
When Chunguan grew up and became a student in the town, he was no longer the little hairy child who followed his sister all day, his thoughts were no longer bound, when he returned home and saw Xiao Xiao's son marrying his daughter-in-law, he seemed to see another tragedy, and finally he also chose to flee, and Xiao Xiao would eventually face the same stagnant life as her mother-in-law, Xiao Xiao from a victim to the enforcer of bad habits, people have been hit by the torrent of time to the river that cannot control their own fate, and go with the flow.
The film is based on Shen Congwen's novel "Xiao Xiao", on the basis of not deviating from the original style, it shows the mentality and living customs of the rural people in western Hunan nearly a century ago, reflects the distortion of human nature by feudal traditional concepts, criticizes the ugliness of feudal society that devours human nature and life, and triggers people's thinking through the tragedy of Xiao Xiao's transformation from a kind girl with a spirit of resistance to a feudal defender.