The couple and their childrens' lives and experiences are used to show how China changed under Mao, with communist propaganda affecting everyday life, collectivisation and later the chaos of the Cultural Revolution. This final act results (in a round about way) in tragedy...
Great events are sometimes best told through the eyes of normal people at the bottom of society as is the case with this film. Sometimes you wonder how people can survive such hardships, to live. These people did.
