Knife in the Clear Water

A place the modern world has forgotten. On the periphery of the mountainous province of Ningxia, the few inhabitants who remain share a primeval bond with the earth. They are its hostages, and although it's dry and infertile, it enables Muslims from the Hui people to survive. Xuebo Wang says farewell to their world of customs doomed to extinction in his debut film, which took six years to make. The director focuses on Ma Zishan, a farmer mourning the death of his wife. Forty days after her death, the widower has to prepare a farewell ceremony. But he doesn't know how to receive guests. He has nothing, lives like a hermit and his only companion is an old bull. In keeping with tradition, it's the bull Zishan should sacrifice. Knife in the Clear Water is a contemplative film: elegiac and shot in cool, subdued colors, flowing in accordance with the rhythm of life in the wilderness, with captivating details and picturesque cinematography. This isn't an ethnographic postcard. The director creates a character of flesh and blood, who, in his advanced age, can afford a modest rebellion in defiance of the spirits of the past and the future.