Falling leaves settle on their roots

   This week our topic is about tracing our roots. This topic makes me think of a Chinese film that I watched several years ago. The name of that film is “Falling leaves settle on their roots”.    

   It is a comedic but meaningful film, which starred a famous Chinese comedian Zhao Benshan. In this film, he starred as a peasant, Lao Zhao who left hometown and worked in Shen Zhen to earn his living. However, during his time working there, his one co-workers and villager, Lao Liu died because of the constructional accident. Because of the Chinese tradition that getting back to hometown after death, Lao Zhao promised to Lao Liu’s families to send his body back to his hometown. On his way home, he met people of different society classes--thieves, robbers, tourists, nurses and so on. After going through all the difficulties, he sent the body back only to find that it had become a reservoir.

   His encounters reflected the underside of the society to some extent. Because of its comedy color, the whole film is full of laughter. However, the thesis behind it deserves our thinking. Why a poor peasant can keep his promise to send back his coworker’s body even though he met so many obstacles? His resolve and honesty are precious characteristics that many people in today’s society have lost. At the end of the film, Lao Zhao finally arrived at the hometown, but his hometown had already become a reservoir. Hometown was where Lao Liu and his roots lay in, so without the hometown where is their roots? That is what the author wants us to think about. Who are we? Where do we belong to? Where are our roots?

  The most precious point of this film is just the deep self-reflection for those people who have forgotten their origin, their roots.  Whether you have watched this film before, spend some time meditating where are your roots?