A slow, sad, painful look at a 15-year old Chinese girl sent from the city to the countryside. It is about her betrayal by the party (sent there for no reason, sent deeper into the steppes for even less reason) and the local party men who sexually use her as she desperately tries to get back to the city. In the country, they send her to work with a castrated horse herder who loves her but can’t really communicate with her. She is an arrogant, sweet, spoiled, kind, and desperately wants to be back in the city with her friends and loving family. It does not end well. The men and women around her are not kind or understanding. There are occasional gaps in pace, but the filming is gorgeous and the kindness of the Tibetan man who works with and lives with is powerful and affecting. Not as epic as “To Live,” but more intimate and cruel, with less of the overall sense of revolutionary virtue the latter film held. The music is sometimes too much. See this one!