Yeshe Dolma (2000) User Reviews

It was Meant to Be and I Feel Most Fortunate

[film_ophile · 9/10 · 10 December 2006]

that I saw this film at the Boston MFA yesterday 12/9/06.It played between two other films that I had gone to the MFA to see, yet IT was the most successful of the three! the film follows the life of our captivating heroine, XiXi,and it flips back and forth between now and the late 1960's-70's in rural Tibet. As a foreigner not familiar with the details of Tibet's history/culture, the older time period shown might as well have been, for the customs, clothing, transportation shown,the 1600's, but it is indeed the mid 20th c. Most all of the situations, dialogue, characters, felt completely realistic and believable to me. I felt it was beautifully written, acted, directed,edited, and photographed. I left feeling quite awestruck and filled with a sense of completion and lovely peace. I am very surprised at the low IMDb rating (5.5 today, but only 18 votes!.)I really think that this film will stay with me for a long time, and I feel most fortunate to have seen it. a 9 for me.

Yixi, a truly heroic literary character

[gkearns · 10/10 · 12 November 2001]

The remarkable story of Yixihuoma (Yixi) is given as a gift to her hurting, modern world, computer hip, granddaughter, Dawa - and vicariously to us, the maybe hurting, modern world, computer hip theater audience. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD) In far off mountainous, isolated Tibet, the beautiful Yixi finds herself loved by three men in her life. While she is betrayed or deserted in different ways by each of the three, they never stop loving her - and she keeps alive in her heart her a constant love for them. She also has an awesome devotion to her husband (one of the three) and children, at one point making an arduous trek across Tibet's forbidding mountains and through the mountains' treacherous weather to find them and save their lives. And she was beautiful when she was young ... and when she grew old. And she sang beautiful tone poems of a beloved Tibetan poet. Actresses Danzengzuoga and Laqiong portray this steadfast, devoted, powerful, sensitive, loving character with pure dramatic artistry. Dawangdui and Renqingdunzhu, as her husband Jiacuo, and the rest of the ensemble cast deserve recognition for their worthy contributions to this fine movie. Special notes of recognition go to Director Fei Xie for bringing Yixi to us, and to the cinematographer, Quanyi Zhang, for bringing a fabulous lost horizon to life.