I viewed this film on a trans-Pacific flight recently. It did not disappoint. It is another in a growing body of films from the 5th generation of mainland Chinese directors onward that captures the pathos of living in a society where trust of anyone outside the family risks loss of face or worse.
In "A Fool," anyone with "ren qing," or a heart for the plight of common people, is susceptible to playing the fool. But this film is not merely a cautionary tale as it richly reveals the irony first captured in The Beatles song, "The Fool on the Hill," albeit not deliberately. The film forms a question for the viewer: Who is the real fool in a country where civil society is so lacking and where the government does little to encourage it much more inspire it?
I was genuinely touched by misadventures of the sheep farmer who tries to do the right thing to such a consistent degree that he has gained notoriety in town for it. But his reputation is tainted by a gnawing sense that he is ridiculed more than admired for his simple humanity. Even his dignity is called into question by his abiding wife and his would-be benefactors, adding an element of pathos, to what are otherwise quite funny retorts bordering on gallows humor.
It helps if the viewer already has an appreciation for this brand of humor as well as some socio-cultural understanding of rural life in contemporary China, although it is not necessary.
