Arriving with next to no fanfare, the China-produced romantic drama “Return to Dust” (“Dust”) last year inadvertently pulled off a feat that left egg on the face of the chinese communist party (CCP). There are a few reasons why the CCP ended up removing “Dust” from circulation, which I’ll get to in short order.
Set in a remote area of western China, “Dust” opens with the gathering of two families for the purpose of arranging the marriage of Ma Youtie, also referred to as “Iron,” (Wu Renlin) and Cao Guiying (Hai Qing). Youtie and Guiying are both painfully shy and reserved, and each was abused by their respective siblings. Guiying also carries additional baggage as she is infertile, disabled, and has … ahem, “bladder issues.”
At a sitting for their marriage license photo, it is beyond obvious that neither of the betrothed is comfortable with the situation or each other, but realize they don’t have much of a choice in the matter as refusing to take part would bring dishonor to their families.
Moving their few meager belongings into a nearby abandoned and disheveled house, man and wife do some tidying up and immediately get to work on planting spring crops.
‘Panda Blood’
It is during a town meeting organized by Zhang Yongfu, a wealthy, never-seen businessman, that it is announced he’s sick and will need regular blood transfusions. The man’s unnamed son (Yang Guangrui) tells the crowd his father needs “Panda Blood” (better known as RH Negative), an ultra-rare type found in only 0.1 to 0.3 percent of the entire human population. Wouldn’t you know it, Youtie is the only match.Although this makes Youtie something of a local big deal, he resents having to regularly provide part of himself to a man he never sees and everyone secretly dislikes. Guiying is equally if not more perturbed, and it is the first sign that a strong bond and genuine affection is developing between the couple.
As valuable as Youtie is to the local kingpin, he and Guiying are not immune to the ever-increasing demolition of what are deemed to be rundown homes to make way for more upscale dwellings. The pair has to relocate more than once before building their own from the ground up.
Written and directed by Li Ruijin, “Dust” clocks in at 133 minutes, and its unadorned setting, measured pace, austere air, and a handful of overlong segments tend to make it feel even longer. It perhaps takes more time than it should to get to the crescendo that truly delivers an emotional wallop.
The big question here isn’t why did the CCP cancel “Dust,” but rather why didn’t it do it sooner?
Non-Spoiler Ahead
The following non-spoiler spoiler text was inserted prior to the start of the end credits: “[Ma] Youtie moved to his new home in the winter of 2011 and started his new life with the help of the government and the warm-hearted villagers.” This text was not included in either the original cut or the one being released in New York this week and couldn’t be further from what actually takes place.My guess for the removal delay is that the censors were too busy examining other high-profile releases and probably assumed such a low-profile art-house film produced in China contained nothing subversive or critical of the CCP.
Unlike the superb 2022 documentary “Eternal Spring,” “Dust” doesn’t shout its disdain from the rooftops or wear its resentment on its metaphoric sleeve. The words “communism,” “party,” or “government” are never uttered. It’s subtle and rife with cloaked symbolism.
For example, the heavily coerced “donation” of blood from Youtie to keep the connected bigwig alive is a way of saying the CCP is bleeding its own citizens dry while offering below-market value and useless trinkets in return. Or the perpetual usage of government “eminent domain” to displace low-income farmers and replace them with (relatively) upscale middle-class residents.
The CCP succeeded in halting most Chinese citizens from seeing “Dust” but, given the widespread movie piracy taking place for years in China and the fact that the movie is now verboten, the demand for bootlegged product will only grow in size.
Nothing will make people more interested in watching something than telling them that they can’t.
