Red Sorghum (1988) Plot Summary Explained

Release, runtime and language

1988 · 91 mins · Chinese

Starring

Ji Chunhua, Hu Xiaoguang, Jiang Wen, Zhang Yimou, Gong Li, Zhai Chunhua

After the elderly leper who runs a remote sorghum winery dies, his wife Jiu’er and her lover—called “my Grandpa” by the narrator—take over and form a community led by Jiu’er. When Japanese forces occupy the area and order the sorghum cleared for a road, the villagers resist, and the cut fields eventually grow back.