An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.
Cast
Gong Li
Jiu'er
Jiang Wen
Yu
Teng Rujun
Uncle Luohan
Liu Ji
Jiu'er's Son
Qian Ming
Jiu'er's Grandmother
Ji Chunhua
Sanpao
Zhai Chunhua
Hu Er
Jia Zhaoji
Unknown
Zhang Yuxiang
Unknown
Zhou Guiyun
Unknown
Yang Qianbin
Unknown
Xu Guoqing
Unknown
Yao Er-ga
Unknown
Li Yusheng
Palanquin Porter
Dong Kun
Unknown
Zhang Yimou
Unknown
Nie Laijing
Unknown
Hu Xiaoguang
Palanquin Porter
Crew
Ji Jianmin
Directing Lighting Artist
Zhang Yimou
Director
Chen Jianyu
Writer
Zhu Wei
Writer
Li Kezhi
Writer
Mo Yan
Novel
Du Yuan
Editor
Gu Changwei
Director of Photography
Yang Fengliang
Assistant Director
Wu Tianming
Producer
Liu Jianzhong
Costume Designer
Sun Wei
Makeup Artist
Gu Changning
Sound Designer
Zhao Jiping
Original Music Composer
Liu Zhiren
Set Dresser
Lei Xiaogang
Property Master
Lun Yang
Additional Photography
Gang Yang
Art Direction
