Wu ge nu zi he yi gen sheng zi

Forget the English title. This is an amazing film. And one that next to no one in the US has seen unless it was via a festival or rented in the original language. A great pity too, since this is one of the most intelligent, genuinely moving and heartfelt films about the plight of women in rural China (and women in general) that has ever been made-and made by a man to boot.

It tells five distinct stories of five young girls, all friends, who have each experienced something so painful or humiliating or heartbreaking that they all decide to go to the mythical land where women are truly free. The catch is, this wonderland is only accessible by dying.

The acting is uniformly excellent-in particular the actor who plays the simple-minded shepherd who loves all five girls and wants to go with them. Of course he can't, so they tell him (knowing full well that he can only make it to ten before he has to start over again) to count his sheep and when he's done they'll be back.

Once seen, this film is impressed indelibly in your memory. It's a crime that no US distributor had the foresight or sensitivity to option it.