Cinema Feed #20: A Touch of Sin (2013)

Trailer:

As the winner of the best screen-play in the Cannes Film Festival 2013, A Touch of Sin aka 天注定 (Tian Zhu Ding) is directed and written by Jia, ZhangKe. Illustrated in four individual settings, the stories were inspired loosely by distressing incidents: 1) Hu Wen Hai (2001), 2) Zhou Kehua (2004), 3) Deng Yujiao (2009) and 4) Foxcon suicides (2007). Considered as Jia's darkest production, the film draws a pragmatic presentation of the lowest social class. Their struggle for living and the violent repulse against social injustice that plagues beneath the prosperous outlook of contemporary China today.

With the occurrence of the disconnected murder at the beginning, the film portrays a cruel and cold- blooded survival environment. And, as bounded by birth with limited options, these bottom class individuals are often exploited with their voice being ignored in the hierarchical society. To tackle the fundamental problem of their livelihood, we see different individuals react differently in the film. For example, the protagonist in (2), Zhou San (Starring Wang Baoqiang), chose to neglect his conscience and performed an armed robbery to sustain his family. For that, he sacrificed himself and became a wandering soul who was lost in mainland. On the contrary, the protagonist in (4), Xiao Hui (Starring Luo Lansan), gave up surviving and ended his life hopelessly.

An evolution of violent act was also drawn in this film; where one's anger towards social bullying is added onto long-term suppression. With that, the film also exhibits different reactions of people through the first and third stories. In the first story, Dai Hai justified his killing as a form of righteous act from the corrupt social system. Like the horse he saved from slavery, he felt free after releasing himself from the moral restriction. In contrast, Xiao Yu in the third story, killed the bully to protect the last of her remaining dignity. Comparable to a snake that bites when provoked, that moment of freedom did not last. Xiao Yu felt lost after the killing and chose to abide to the rules in this system.

For what comes around goes around, the path that leads these four protagonists into their current state is exactly as the title suggests, 天注定 (Tian Zhu Ding), literally translated as a destined fate. It is an unseen cage that we shall never be able to escape.