Zhang Yimou

One of the most important film directors of the so-called Chinese Fifth Generation, Zhang Yimou, author of so many memorable movies. I watched some, not all of them yet, and next week it is scheduled on a TV channel The Road Home.

Zhang's beginnings were particularly harsh. Born in 1950, he was the son of a KMT officer (the army of Chiang Kai-Shek, defeated by the Communists and driven to Taiwan). Other relatives were also black sheep for the Communists: a brother accused of spying for KMT, another one fled to Taiwan. No wonder that the whole family was considered suspect, and during the Cultural Revolution Zhang Yimou was pulled out from high school and sent to labor in a remote village. Later he was transferred to a textile factory. Passionate for the image, the young boy sold his blood to get the money for his first camera.

When the horrors of the Cultural Revolution ended, Zhang was already too old to pursue college studies. He tried to enter the Beijing Film Academy in 1978, to be rejected because of his age: he was already 28. He didn't despair and insisted more. Eventually he would be admitted in 1982. And he became one of the greatest!

• The Road Home (1999)

(Chinese Cinema)