Red Sorghum is a 1988 Chinese film about a young woman's life working in a distillery for sorghum liquor. It is based on the first two parts of the novel Red Sorghum by Nobel laureate Mo Yan. The film marked the directorial debut of internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou, and the acting debut of film star Gong Li. With its lush and lusty portrayal of peasant life, it immediately vaulted Zhang to the forefront of the Fifth Generation directors. The film won the Golden Bear Award at Berlin Film Festival. Synopsis The film takes place in a rural village in China's eastern province of Shandong during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It is narrated from the point of view of the protagonist’s grandson, who reminisces about his grandmother, Jiu'er. She was a poor girl who was sent by her parents into a pre-arranged marriage with an old man, Li Datou, who owned a sorghum wine distillery and who had leprosy. As Jiu'er's wedding party crosses a field of sorghum, they are attacked by a bandit. One of the men hired to carry Jiu'er's sedan chair manages to fight off the assailant. After Jiu'er safely reaches the distillery, her rescuer, whom she has been eyeing during the trip, disappears. During Jiu'er's trip back to her parents' village, a bandit with a mask jumps out of the sorghum field and, after chasing down Jiu'er, carries her off into the sorghum stalks. Jiu'er runs away at first, but when the bandit takes off his mask and reveals himself to be her chair man and rescuer, she stops resisting his pursuit and has sex with him. Upon Jiu'er's return to the distillery, it is discovered that Li Datou has died of mysterious causes, leading many of the distillery's workers to suspect murder. Nothing is proven, however, and since Jiu'er's late husband was without heir, it is she who takes ownership of the distillery, which has recently fallen on hard times. She inspires the workers to take new pride in their wine. One day, Jiu'er's lover and the narrator's grandfather becomes drunk and loudly insists to the group of men accompanying him that he is going to share her bed. When he enters the bedroom, however, she, embarrassed, tosses him out. The other men on the scene carry him away, sticking him in an empty wine vat where he remains for the next three days. Meanwhile,