Ash is the Purest White

Directed by: Jia Jhangke
Written by: Jia Jhangke
Starring: Tao Zhao, Fan Liao, Yi'nan Diao, Xiaogang Feng, Casper Liang, Zheng Xu, Yibai Zhang
Drama/Romance - 136 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 28 Mar 2019

For those cinephiles in the know, Chinese director Jia Zhangke is known for charting the course of China’s recent history and how the sweep of time affects his characters. I am not one of those cinephiles, this is the first Zhangke film I’ve ever seen. But I confirm the ground truth. Zhangke follows a small cluster of low-level, outlaw characters from their brash youth, hesitant middle-age, and sobering declining years all while we watch China transform from haphazard living to modern urban planning marvel behind them. The scope is epic, the pacing is temperate, and the steady progress over the 20 year span of the film is a reminder the world is changing whether or not you pause to notice it.

Qiao (Tao Zhao) is the girlfriend. She smooths the rough edges of boyfriend and local heavyweight, Bin (Fan Liao). Want to relax your big boss in the nightclub and make him smile? Send in Qiao. Want to cool down the room after bickering flunkies pull pistols? Send in Qiao. She knows her role and plays it with aplomb. Overtly enjoying her status as the boss’s arm candy and the perks of a rare disposable income in their rust belt town, Qiao still makes an effort to visit her aging father back in the old mining town she came from and wish everyone well.

Datong City appears to be a Chinese Pittsburgh or Akron, Ohio. One industry dominates the land and employs most of the residents. Rumors swirl that the state-owned mining conglomerate is going to relocate to Xinjiang, which in the Chinese system means everyone who works for the company is moving to Xinjiang. If you don’t know where Xinjiang is and its larger place within the Chinese government’s plans or why it has been in the news lately, you will not grasp the subtle messages Zhangke weaves throughout the story.

Xinjiang is the western frontier. It is desolate, lacks industry and infrastructure, and the majority of its people are oppressed ethnic minorities. For more on that, check out any major newspaper and see what the ethnic Uighurs are going through right now as over a million of them are rounded up into camps. The Chinese Politburo executes programs to make it attractive for the ethnic Han Chinese to move out to Xinjiang to not only improve it economically but begin to change it demographically. There are similar programs in Tibet. We never actually see the west in Ash is the Purest White, but it’s always there - hinted at and referred to. We can only imagine how it has changed after Qiao finishes her five year prison sentence.

As is the rule when it comes to the underworld, if you’re on top, there will be malevolent forces who want to take your place. While defending Bin from a gang attack, Qiao fires a pistol, takes the fall for Bin, and does her duty to not only protect the boss from legal trouble, but to protect her boyfriend who she expects to be waiting for her with open arms when the prison gate opens. Whether or not Bin is there to meet Qiao upon her release and the ensuing events are all plot points I will not spoil. But China has already changed into something else in those short five years. Train stations are sleeker and town centers and cultural events are less traditional. None of these changes are in your face - it’s all background. If you’re not looking for it and are only focused on the relationship between Qiao and Bin, the dynamic is easily missed. However, I have a hunch that those who are aware of Zhangke and take the time to find this Chinese import out here in the west, know what to be on the look out for.

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