The Chinese Widow

A film set in China during the Second World War. American bombers turn towards the Chinese coast after a mission over Japan. They run out of fuel and the crews have to jump. One of the pilots comes down near a village and is injured. The person who finds him is a woman who has lost her husband; she takes him into her house and hides him. The two do not share a language. Communication is built by signs, by drawing and through the woman's small daughter. Japanese units sweep the area. They are looking for the downed pilots and are harsh with villages that hide them; the second half of the film is about that pressure. The question at the centre is whether you would risk your whole village for a stranger. The woman makes that decision once and has to carry what follows. The event behind the film is real. What happened in the region after that mission is one of the less told parts of the war. Liu Yifei plays the woman and Emile Hirsch the pilot. Bille August directed. It was made as a co-production between China and the West and tries to join the narrative habits of both. A suitable choice for anyone who likes wartime drama and stories built on a language barrier. For a viewer expecting action, the film moves calmly and its weight is in the village scenes.