Mongolian Ping Pong (Lü cao di)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: C+
Hao
Ning’s Mongolian Ping Pong (Lü cao di)
is a film that is supposed to be about childlike innocence as young Mongolian
children in their pre-teens mistake a golf ball for a valuable pearl after
seeing a film and spend the whole film showing how “cute” their naďveté
is. In one way, the film is sincere in
this, but because they are very poor and without water and only the basic
necessities, is this not exploitive?
Is it
also not condescending and racist? And
mind you, this runs over 100 minutes.
Showing how retro-Stalinist and PC this can get, the extreme Left would
either shout down any such opinion to “leave things alone” or the smarter ones
might agree with the possibility of exploitation. Either way, I do not think Ning is being
racist, but this can only be so innocent.
Another problem is the stereotyping of Asian people in general in the
“nice” department, which has served as a backhanded complement for years, as if
anyone form that part of the world is no threat or should not be taken
seriously.
With al
that said, some of this is not bad, but at what cost of suffering? It is something to consider if you see it.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image was shot on digital video, not
necessarily HD and has all kinds of small flaws and limits throughout. The color is good at times. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is stereo at
best. Extras include stills and text on
the film and director.
- Nicholas Sheffo
