In the early 1980s, at the beginning of reform and opening up, a new situation and new atmosphere of prosperity and vigorous development appeared everywhere in China's vast rural areas. At this time, a large number of films reflecting rural themes that the masses liked to see also emerged in the Chinese film industry. This includes films typical of the rural theme trilogy directed by the famous director Zhao Huanzhang ("Xiyingmen", "Our Cow Hundred Years Old", "Our Veterans"). These three films more comprehensively reflected the rural development style in the new period at that time and the spiritual outlook and psychological state of the masses in the face of the new situation.
"Our Cow 100 Years Old" is starring Liang Qinggang, Wang Fuli, Qian Yongfu and Chen Yude, and was released in 1983. The film tells the story of the communist party member Niu Baishi who led the members of the "Lazy Man Group" to struggle together and get rid of poverty and get rich after the implementation of the production contract responsibility system in the rural areas:
After the implementation of the production contract responsibility system in China's rural areas, Niu Baisheng, a member of the party branch of a certain production brigade on the Jiaodong Peninsula, led five members with more problems to set up a separate operation group that was jokingly called the "lazy man group." Due to the problems left over from the ten years of turmoil and the impact of the long-term "big pot rice", the development of the operation group was not smooth: Niu Baishi lent the group member Chrysanthemum 40 yuan to repay the debt, his wife Qiu Shuang was very dissatisfied, and the family was full of contradictions; the group member Niu Tiansheng got 4 long-haired rabbits to develop the side business of the group, but encountered a lot of resistance, and left the group in one breath; Chrysanthemum and Niu Tiansheng had feelings in labor, but Niu Tiansheng was cold to chrysanthemum because the lazy Han Tianfu also liked chrysanthemums. Autumn came, and the members of the centenarian group celebrated a bumper harvest, but Tian Fu did not complete the contract quota and ran to Niu Baishi's house to smash the pot of Niu Baishi's family------
Compared with "Xiyingmen", "Our Cow Hundred Years Old" still unfolds the narrative in the structure and form of light comedy, focusing on the character of Niu Baisheng, showing the new things and new peasant images produced in the great changes in Rural China, and how to deal with the problem of changing the thinking of farmers in the transition period. The whole film is full of strong local atmosphere, and the environment and character shaping are very close and grounded.
"Our Cow is 100 Years Old" is a film that reflects the portraits of the masses under the tide of rural reform and development at that time. In the film, this "lazy group" gathers the problematic characters who may appear in the countryside at that time: Chrysanthemum, a young widow, who was criticized for hanging up her broken shoes and roaming the streets, the problem of life style, and people's prejudice: "Wandering Ghost" Niu Tiansheng, is one of the few readers in the village, love is frustrated, and he lives a broken can; lazy man "Tian Fu" can be said to be a typical example of the lazy man who raised lazy people in the countryside in the past, Tian Fu is good to eat and lazy, idle, and unwilling to work; "provoking natural disasters" Niu Qi, grumpy, The reason is the impact of the Cultural Revolution's smashing and looting; the "three hands" Xinliang, who usually likes to steal, is a poor life. The collection of these five types of people can be said to exist to varying degrees in many rural areas. Solving the problems of these people's thoughts, cognitions and behaviors, that is, solving the problems of people's thoughts and cognitions in real life, the educational significance and exemplary significance brought by this film were very far-reaching at that time.
One of the biggest successes of the film is to create the typical image of rural party members and cadres in the new era of Niu Baisheng. With the emergence of the production contract responsibility system, policies and the situation have changed, and people's values have also changed; some people only care about throwing themselves away from their own responsibilities, lacking collective consciousness, and the backward masses are left unattended, and finally become a social problem. As a result, the 100-year-old niu in the film has become a representative of correctly handling the relationship between people in rural society and giving play to the advanced nature of rural grass-roots party members in the new situation. In the face of the problem crowd that is alienated by the big guys, Niu Baishi's sentence "They are all drinking water from a well, and they can't bear to push them out of the way", which makes people deafening. Through a series of meticulous and patient work, this group of problematic characters, under the leadership of Niu Baishi, have gradually completed their transformation and returned to the right track of life and life. Therefore, after the release of the film, this character image played a good publicity demonstration effect, at that time, whether it is a village or a city, there was a boom in the advanced to help the backward, the backward to catch up with the advanced, and everyone to compete for the cattle.
Due to the strong rural atmosphere, the interpretation of typical characters and the wonderful storyline, this film caused a sensation as soon as it was launched, and the number of viewers reached more than 200 million. The theme song of the film, "Feet on the Road to Happiness", has also become a representative song of the new Chinese rural theme film, which has been sung for decades. At the same time, "Our Cow Is 100 Years Old" also won the Best Feature Film and Best Supporting Actress Award at the 7th Hundred Flowers Awards of Popular Films in 1983. At the 4th Golden Rooster Awards of Chinese Film, he was nominated for Best Feature Film, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress.
Taking advantage of this boom, two years later, the third part of Zhao Huanzhang's rural theme trilogy, "Our Veterans", began to be released.