An Elephant Sitting Still

 

Allow me to preface this review with a quick thank you for taking the time to visit this blog and to have an interest in this film, An Elephant Sitting Still. On a personal level I have actually been to the city where this movie was filmed and can personally attest to the strange otherworldly nature that it has from being there. If you have not seen the film I highly recommend doing so before reading this review as the plot will be spoiled very early on in this review. Otherwise enjoy this look at the film and I hope it may even create a new found respect for this cinematic achievement.

If the film An Elephant Sitting Still makes one thing clear even before viewing, it’s that it demands to be approached thoughtfully. Looking the film up online from a quick search instantly reveals a four hour runtime, something that will scare most casual viewers away. I think that is completely to the film’s credit, as this is a piece that requires careful attention and full emotional commitment from its viewers.

An Elephant Sitting Still is a neorealist picture of lower-class China. In it, we follow the lives of four interconnected people in China’s Hebei Province. This is a part of the nation that most tourists will never see, most people never talk about, and the nation itself would probably prefer to think isn’t there. It is a place of desolation, where the air is consistently filled with smoke from constantly churning industrial structures. It is a place where the sun fills the cities with light but is always covered behind a thick curtain of smog. This film does not shy away from highlighting every second of that bleak atmosphere in its entire four hours.

The Story

With that let’s take a moment to look at each of the four main characters in the film, starting with Yu Cheng, a man having an affair with his best friend’s wife. Yu Cheng is a melancholic young man in his early 20s. He is a chain smoker and doesn’t take the world seriously. He hates most of the people around him, yet craves the attention of his lovers. He is the older brother of Yu Shuai who will come into the picture shortly.

Next is Wei Bu, a young teen still in primary school. He lives in a small apartment with his parents, and his father is verbally abusive to both him and his mother. Wei is emotionally distant; he takes the abuse from his father yelling about the terrible trash smell in kind by giving soft spoken answers. He has school on this day, but does not seem to care about or feel much investment in his own education. His best friend is Li Kai, who he walks to class with that morning. Li Kai reveals that he has a gun he stole from his father, showing it to Wei before arriving at school.

At the same school as Wei Bu is Huang Ling, a friend of Wei’s. She lives with her mother, with no father to speak of. Ling’s mother appears to be an alcoholic who places many of her misfortunes at Ling’s feet. The apartment they reside in is dirty and, unkempt, at the beginning of the film, even the toilet doesn’t work properly, filling the bathroom floor with water. Ling does not seem to have much interest in school or her fellow classmates.

Last, we have Wang Jin, an older gentleman who lives with his daughter, her husband, and his granddaughter. Despite the apartment they share being Jin’s originally, his family, particularly his son-in-law, are pushing for him to live in a retirement home. He is a very calculating but open man who tries to consider all angles of something before making a decision. He is hesitant to leave his home, but there is a part of him that still thinks it over for the good of his family. As he leaves to walk around the city, he takes his small pet dog with him, leaving without giving an answer regarding the retirement home.

The easiest connection is that all of these people live in the same city, but as the plot progresses, things move so much more deeply than that. For Wei Bu, he and his close friend have a bully to deal with at school, which just so happens to be Yu Shai. Shai is convinced that Li Kai, Bu’s friend, has stolen his cell phone. This is something that Kai denies and Wei Bu stands in solidarity with. Shai asks them to meet in the early afternoon to get into details about it. When they do, things quickly escalate at the top of a stairwell. Just as they are about to fight, Wei Bu steps in, standing up to Shai. During this face-to-face moment, Bu is pushed and, when he pushes back, Sha trips down the stairwell. He initially seems lifeless, so Wei Bu flees the scene and runs away from school.

Yu Cheng, the older brother of Yu Shai, is obviously pulled into this situation. However, that morning he was in his best friend’s apartment, having an affair with his wife. His friend comes home unexpectedly, looking for something he forgot, and soon arrives at the bedroom, where he sees Cheng hiding in the adjacent bathroom. Upon seeing this, he jumps out the window, killing himself. Cheng, learning that his brother has been seriously injured, goes on hunting for Wei Bu, seeking retribution.

Huang Ling eventually finds Wei Bu at a local park, and he tries to convince her to come with him to Manzhouli where there is an elephant that just sits, ignoring the world. She refuses in an almost mocking manner, leaving him to find his own way.

Wang Jin is out walking his dog when it is attacked and killed by a dog that’s been reported missing by a nearby family. He goes to the family’s apartment and confronts them, saying that their dog killed his. This quickly escalates when the family begins accusing him of attempted blackmail. He gives up, and dumps the dog’s body into a trash pile in the city. Wei Bu sees the man doing this, and talks to him about the dog. He asks for money in exchange for a pool cue, which is his most valuable possession. Jin initially refuses, but after Bu sticks up for him against the owner of the dog who killed his own, he laments giving Bu something to continue on his journey.

Huang Ling has her relationship with the vice dean of the school come out after videos of them are leaked online. Wei Bu happens to be watching them eating at a bakery and leaves a note to say that the vice dean is screwed. After this revelation the vice dean’s wife confronts Ling and her mother at their apartment. At first, Ling escapes out the back window, but returns to the apartment to hit the vice dean and his wife with a baseball bat. She then runs away from home.

Wei Bu buys a counterfeit ticket to Manzhouli, which costs him the rest of his money. When he finds out, he confronts the man who sold him the ticket. He takes him outside of the city to an associate, who realizes it is the man Yu Cheng is looking for. Cheng arrives and, after talking, Bu mentions about seeing the elephant sitting still. This is the same story that Cheng’s friend had shared with him before his suicide. He is about to let him go when Li Kai finds them and shoots Cheng. Bu again flees and Li Kai shoots himself in the head.

Wang Jin visits a retirement community, and after seeing its deplorable condition, finds his granddaughter at her school and decides to leave for Manzhouli with her. The four of them all run into each other at the train station, where the train has been cancelled. They transfer the tickets to a bus ride, and the film ends with them arriving at Manzhouli. As they all depart the bus, we hear the sound of an elephant in the distance.

As mentioned earlier An Elephant Sitting Still could be described as a neorealist film. In order to achieve this look, the film was shot exclusively in the handheld style, with very long takes.

Technical Aspects

From a sheer technical standpoint, An Elephant Sitting Still was filmed on an Arri Alexa mini with Zeiss ultra-prime lenses. This kind of set up lends itself perfectly to the naturalistic style that this film embodies. The Alexa mini is a much more lightweight but just as powerful cousin to the bigger, beefier Arri Alexa, which makes it a lot easier to have with a small handheld rig. For the lens choice, the Zeiss ultra-prime lenses sit nicely at a T2.1, which means that they can handle very low light situations. Using both of these allows the director Hu Bo, and his cinematographer, Chao Fan, the freedom and flexibility to use little to no lighting, besides what was at each location featured in the film. This type of freedom also allows for the quicker, and simpler, on-the-street style of filming that we see featured abundantly.

Echoing that sentiment, the first director that comes to mind when watching this film is Terrence Malick. Like Malick, Hu Bo loves to frame shots very close to his actor’s faces while having moments play out in the background. Looking at the closeness of his subjects to the camera while still maintaining a wide frame would suggest that the movie was shot on something akin to a 16mm or wider focal length. Given the vast range of choices, the ultra-prime series of lenses would also make it easy to assume that something like a 14 or 12mm lens was used. This initial reading of a style reminiscent of Malick is an easy parallel to make, given the easy accessibility his films have here in the Western world. However, Hu Bo was actually a student of the filmmaker Bela Tarr who is himself renowned for his films with deep philosophical themes and the use of the long take.

An Untimely Loss:

To continue on any further without addressing this point would be ignoring a major piece of the infamy of this film. Shortly after finishing the film, before it would officially premiere, Hu Bo tragically ended his own life at the age of 29. The official notion seems to be that he was feuding with the producers of the film over the length of the final piece. They were calling for Hu Bo to cut the length of it by more than half of the initial four hour run time, which Hu Bo adamantly refused to do. Hu Bo died on October 12^th, 2017; the film would have its first premiere in July of 2018.

To posit that this film serves as some kind of opus or visual suicide note would be to sell it short. Hu Bo he didn’t want to see his work butchered, and for that he made the ultimate stand. He stood tall on his artistic vision and faced the prospect of immense changes in the story he wanted to tell the world. He simply could not bear seeing his work destroyed. Was there more than just this that led to his suicide? It’s likely. Perhaps he had an underlying mental condition or other mitigating factors. However, it is worth discussing as we note that it’s an utter shame that a director with such a strong voice at such as young age will only get to grace the world with his vision this singular time.

Visual Themes

Keeping in tone with the visual style of the film, let’s look at a few examples of consistent visual themes that are presented throughout. The first and most notable visual motif is that of a shot of a character’s back as they move along to a space or contemplate entering a new one. From a functional purpose, this is an easy way to introduce a new location or setting the character is about to enter without a cutaway. The practice provides a long establishing shot of a new location. However, from an emotional standpoint, this reflects the isolation that each of the characters feel. They are not framed small, in fact, they take up the majority of the frame in each of these compositions. They are inevitably completely alone in this space, in the moment, with no support or guidance from anyone but the hardship of their own decisions.

Another prevalent framing choice is placing a character close to the camera while maintaining a wide frame, with characters out of focus in the background. Again, if we look at the practical implications of this, we can see it serves the purpose of avoiding a natural cut. By keeping all the subjects in the frame during an exchange, there is no need to cut to a close up of the other character or keep a slew of angles in the edit. While it could be argued that you could still have cuts in any dialogue scene like this, Bo Hu instead allows the scene to play out from a single wide shot. In an analytical dissection, though, we are able to focus on who is important in these moments. Huang Ling is not the dominant force in the frame, in fact she is only 1/3^rd of the total frame structure, but she is sharply in focus.

We must observe here that she is not a majority of the frame, but rather just one piece of the balance of the frame, which shows that she is not in control in this situation. In this apartment, with her domineering mother, she is constantly made to feel small. If you notice, the door to her room is not open, but is rather almost completely closed, which is a visual metaphor of the fractured relationship. She does not open herself up fully to her own mother, but she doesn’t want to close that door completely, either. It is her mother, and she still loves her despite it all, even beyond all the abuse.

The last visual piece to discuss is the natural cinematography that was touched on earlier. Looking at this frame, we see the motivating light is the coming from the window of the bus. There could be an incorporation of something like a bounce board to get a nice fall off on the left side of the face. However, this does not seem to be the case, at least here, because the shadows are so hard and the fall off is nearly immediate once we lose the lighting peering in from outside. Given the naturally overcast day and the possible slight tint on the windows, we get a gorgeous bit of natural light. This is obviously meant to highlight the realism of the story, making it seem even more real to the viewer.

Color Palette

As we look through the screenshots already presented, it is easy to see the muted color palette that the film implements throughout. Cold blues overpower the frames, and there are only a few subtle moments where the orange glow from a shadowed sun come into play. This is again another key into the coldness of this place, of this world. The fact that there are only occasional moments of a warm glow can again be a symbolic reflection of the way in which life has only small periods of happiness.

Recurring Symbols

The most common recurring symbol in this film is that of death. In life, one inescapable aspect of our humanity is that of the inevitable finite nature of our own existence. Death is all around us and, in this film, it is no different. In the piece, there are a total of four deaths that take place. Wang Jin loses his dog. Yu Cheng loses his brother, sees his friend kill himself, and sees Li Kai shoot himself after being shot. Huang Ling and Wei Bu both witness Yu Shai falling down the steps, which leads to his eventual death.

This is a sobering reminder that we are constantly close to death each day we’re alive. The scenes of death come at a moment’s notice without warning, much like those of life. The scenes of violence are not glorified in any way. There are no extreme close-ups or slow-motion moments to be had in the film. They instead happen quickly and viscerally.

This has two separate effects on the viewing experience. The first, as mentioned before, is a reflection of the real. Death and, by extension, the violence that causes it, can happen at any moment without warning. The second point is that it almost takes longer to process what just happened. Again, this is a jarringly effective subversion of what we are used to seeing in most films. The norm would be quick cuts that actually better adjust an audience member to what is happening. A gradual increase in cuts creates a response in our modern brains that almost expect the violence to occur. However, when we view it simply, in real time, we are forced to think harder about it.

Think of it through this lens. Imagine you are standing on the corner of the street and witness a car crash right in front of you. There is probably going to be a delay in what you have just witnessed and your mind fully processing this information. It is like you need an extra beat to fully take it all in. The same can be said for the scenes in this film. Yu Cheng’s friend quickly jumps out of the window to commit suicide. We understand, from a primal place, what he is doing, but it still takes a second to pull it all together. In that moment, the camera holds on Cheng’s face as he stands in the bathroom, not moving after this action. We are Cheng in that moment, unable to fully process what happened, despite seeing it with our own eyes.

Another recurring sentiment in the film is one of escape. All of the characters in this film want to escape in one way or another, which leads to Manzhouli. As individuals, they all seemingly fail in their attempts. It is only at the climax of the film after they all meet that they finally succeed, despite the final obstacle of the train being cancelled. Even when Wang Jin tries to walk away, citing that it will not be any different wherever one goes, Wei Bu counters by pushing the idea that you have to at least see what happens.

Despite what Hu Bo’s intentions may have been with this message, what can be said of this is that it is one very deeply embedded in Chinese culture as a whole. Coming from a Communist society, you are not so much meant to worry about yourself as an individual, but rather as a piece of the whole, meant to do your part. To show characters failing as individuals but succeeding as a collective plays into this notion perfectly. It is hard to believe that Hu Bo would have been a pro-government type but the parallels are too similar to at least not highlight here.

There is always pain even in the pleasurable. This theme is echoed in the first ten minutes of the film as Yu Cheng remarks “Sometimes when you smoke, your skin peels off, and blood will remain on the cigarette.” Throughout the film, moments that should be pleasurable are closely connected to or followed by with pain. This first example of smoking a cigarette, something associated with those who partake as a way to relieve stress, causes the skin to peel and the smoker to bleed.

For Wei Bu-, as he is getting ready for school in the morning, he sits down to eat as his father yells at him, complaining of the smell in the home. He continues to eat, but in a mechanical way, not showing any pleasure in the meal. This is just sustenance to get him through. Huang Ling faces the same moment when she eats the smashed cake that her mother most likely crushed in a drunken stupor the night before for Ling’s birthday. She furiously eats it, holding back tears as her mother accuses her of stepping on it, thus making her ungrateful for her mother walking miles to find a bakery.

Wang Jin is eating his breakfast while his son-in-law talks to him about moving into the retirement community. He again eats his food, slowly offering soft rebuttals to the points that his son-in-law is trying to make. Even after he finishes, he is followed through the apartment in an effort to convince him to move out so that they can have more room. In all of these cases we see how close pain and pleasure are to one another.

These are just a few of the examples of pain overtaking pleasure in the film. In an extension of this psychological state, we find a pretty striking metaphor for the depressed psyche. In a complete state of deep depression, it is hard to find pleasure in anything. In this way, a delicious meal can feel like a tasteless mass of slop, only existing to keep us alive. It is a way of visually expressing how deep an impact depression can have on every aspect of living.

The Elephant

The film opens with this story:

“He told me the other day…there is an elephant in Manzhouli. It sits there all day long. Perhaps some people keep stabbing it with forks. Or maybe it just enjoys sitting there. I don’t know. People gather there, watching it sitting still. They feed the elephant food, but it takes no notice.”

The easiest western and perhaps worldwide impression of an elephant is the classic saying of “an elephant in the room. -” The origin of this saying dates back to an 1814 fable by Ivan Krylov entitled “The Inquisitive Man,” wherein a man in a museum notices all the tiny details, but fails to notice the elephant. It was later mentioned by Fyodor Dostoevsky in his 1871 novel, Demons. Finally, this phrase came into common use within its most modern variation, first appearing as a metaphor in an issue of The New York Times in 1959.

So, from this perspective, what is the elephant in the room that this film is bringing to our attention? Is it something to do with life being an endless struggle? Or is it something to touch on how we are helpless to the whim’s life delivers us? Are we not just all little pieces to a divine plan already laid out for us?

Thinking through each element of the film, it is hard to deny the utterly bleak palette this movie uses to paint a complete picture. However, as we examine the end of the film, the last thing we hear is the elephant crying out. It does not sound like a cry of pain, but rather the call of a confident creature. It seems to give the viewer a final message of overarching hope.

Having this scene play out against the backdrop of the night sky only adds to the message of hopefulness. This insinuates that through the darkness, we can find light. This elephant might not be the answer to all of the problems that these characters face, but perhaps it can be the start of something more positive for each of them. They will still have struggles, but they have made the hard decision to try to take complete control of their futures, and maybe that is all we need in life?

Ultimately, the theme is not that when we run to a new place all of our problems are solved. The movie makes a point to challenge this notion when Wang Jin mentions that your problems follow you, no matter where you go. So, in that sense, while problems in life might be a big motivation to leave somewhere, it should not be the sole variable and you should not expect a change in yourself merely by a change of location. At its core, this film sticks to the roots of realism. Problems persist no matter where you go, and this is not a typical Hollywood ending where the issues are all wrapped up by the end.

We can also extrapolate that by never showing us this beast of mythical stature, Hu Bo is commenting on the frivolity of what we deem a wonderful new place. Ultimately, when these characters see the elephant it could be nothing like they expected, a letdown. How true is it that many of us think some new place holds all the answers, only to arrive and be severely disappointed? This could be the start of a sheer change in their lives, or it could be just another disappointment in a long list of things. Maybe it’s the simple act of taking this journey together that is the true victory in life; that they took the steps at all.

In Chinese Culture:

Within Chinese culture, the elephant seems to have no strictly bound meaning attached to it in the way that Buddhism does, but there still are some ties worth mentioning. The first is the most direct, which comes from Chinese chess being referred to as the ‘Elephant Game,’ or ‘Elephant Chess.’ Pronounced Xiangqi, it is a strategy board game designed for two players and is in the same family as the Western game of chess. The elephant pieces in the game are the bishops, which are located next to the advisors. The game is very popular in China and is still commonly played today.

The elephant is also seen as something of a lucky animal in China. As the word for elephant, Dà xiàng, is close to the pronunciation of the word for auspicious, Jíxiáng, the two share a general link. This goes even further with the symbol of an elephant with a vase granting a wish of general prosperity and luck to those who have it in their home or on their property.

The Elephant is inside us:

Another reading of the elephant motif can be observed in each character in the film itself. Much like the story told at the beginning mentions the elephant taking no notice of food, the characters in the story eat simply for sustenance. They have no joy in the meal. Much like the elephant, they are stuck in one city that they do not enjoy. They have no real pleasure. They all just dream of being somewhere better, as it could be assumed this elephant dreams of in its tortured state.

When someone battles depression, every day can feel like an uphill climb to the top of the steepest hill. Simply getting out of bed can seem daunting. When we fight this, or any of the numerous mental hurdles we face, we push against that elephant inside us- this piece of us that is so indifferent to the pleasures that life can bring. Everything looks and feels grey, as is the natural color of the elephant itself.

In this way, Hu Bo has made the elephant a symbol, not only of our own despair, but also of our greatest triumph. What the characters in this film are seeking by going to Manzhouli is not some tortured beast, but their own demons. They are facing them by moving towards them directly, just as we need to reflect inward to plot a path forward in our lives.

Seeing the elephant sitting still is not the destination, rather, it is just one more step on the journey to happiness. The simple act of pushing yourself to do this- is the hardest part. Even in the film, the easiest route (the train) is cancelled, leaving the characters to instead take multiple buses to reach the final stop. Again, as in life, the path will not be a smooth one, but one littered with things seemingly destined to push us back. Once you make it through and stare this apparently immovable object down, only then can you start on the true road of healing.

In this way, that elephant of fears, anxiety, and depression, is inside all of us. Once we find it and stare it down, we can hear life calling out to us again, letting us grow past all of that which holds us back from our true amazing potential.

Pool Cue

Once Wei Bu retrieves his pool cue from the gambling hall, it is featured prominently throughout the remainder of the film. When he gives it to Wang Jin in exchange for money, Jin carries it with him to the end. On first watch, it just seems to be a small plot element, but it should be noted for providing two small, but important, details to the story.

The first thing that you will notice during the film is that we have an expectation for what is to come with the cue. Much like the example of Chekhov’s gun, we anticipate that this will be used as a weapon at some point in the story. With the air of violence and death constantly looming, with the pressure on Wang Jin to give up Wei Bu’s location, the audience holds the thought that at some point, he will use it to fight back. However, this is an extremely clever subversion, because the cue is never used as a weapon, not even in places where it would be easy to do so. Jin almost becomes a protector of this item, symbolizing the tradition of an older generation being a protector of the younger one.

The second piece to notice is the further cementing of the pleasure or escapist fantasy. Pool is a game of certain chance, with stakes that players gamble upon. Unlike most games where one can gamble, the odds favor a skilled player who has practiced the art of pool. In this lies a statement of how, although life can have major odds stacked against us, all is not lost-, we can improve ourselves and climb out of the mud, so to speak. Pool is a skill you can improve, practice, refine, and much like in life, you can end up in a much better place with perseverance.

Conclusion

Looking back on An Elephant Sitting Still, it is very easy to see the darkness in the film. It is very simple to simply see the somber palette of the piece, to observe the amount of death throughout, to see something completely bleak. Hu Bo fundamentally challenges this. Yes, life can truly be one of the worst things to experience, we can be pushed to the absolute brink but, in that darkness, there is hope that can always be reborn. The only trick to it is finding that hope inside of us and that we continue taking steps forward.

Hu Bo taking his own life was a tragic end to a great artist, but he was standing up for his artistic merit. He wanted this film to be a four hour long emotional epic, and when his producers challenged his vision with their desire to cut the run time in half, it was too much for him to think about or handle. He wanted people to see this film in all its glory, and while this action may mix up this underlying message of hope his film tries to send, Hu Bo still left an incredible mark on cinematic history as we know it.

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