ABSTRACT
Jiang Zhangke’s (1970- ) first film, Xiao Wu, which portrays a pickpocket’s life in the postsocialist society by examining his human relations, is typical of the Sixth-Generation auteur’s works that often focus on the social marginal. In the movie, the all-around influence of the large-scale changes brought about by the two decades of the state’s policy of economic reform is vividly presented in this person of no importance in a spirit of humanism. The film can be read as a silent elegy for the past age with its now old-fashioned character(s). On the other hand, while the director is deeply moved by this inexorable societal change and the vicissitude of ordinary people within, he does not understand clearly the social-political import of this transformation and what sort of ethical-moral value system has been challenged, but only harbors tender feelings for those waiting along the roadside to get on the bus of the “historical trend” and those who are left behind. With a sympathetic gaze and a humanist spirit, the film illustrates the historical experience he has experienced in the youthful period, yet it fails to give a poignant analysis of the transformation.
