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Giant of the big screen
By Liu Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-20 07:39

His straightforwardness won him respect among filmmakers and cinephiles. When Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower hit theaters in 2006, Xie criticized it for being too remote from real life.

"Of course, many people would like to see it, because the actresses are almost half naked," he said on a TV talk show.

"China has more than a billion people, and hundreds of millions of peasants have not seen any film for years. Why does nobody care about that but everybody talks about blockbusters like the Golden Flower?"

Xie was also known to break silence and to ignore face-saving civilities at seminars and meetings.

"Xie was a person who was never afraid to speak the truth," recalls young director Jia Zhangke.

In 2001, he finished Woman Soccer Player No. 9 (Nuzu Jiuhao), a film about China's female soccer players.

At 74, he completed a costume drama about the mid-19th century Opium Wars.

At the time of his passing, he was preparing for One-2008th (2008 Fenzhiyi), a non-profit, short-film project involving several famous directors. Another project, a biopic of structural engineer and bridge construction expert Mao Yisheng, was also in the works. Xie once told his friend, writer Fan Tiansheng, that he would like to die at work.

Behind his onscreen glory, Xie's personal life was riddled with trials.

Two of his four children had mental disabilities. His eldest son Xie Yan, also a director, had passed away two months ago at 59.

Xie had been known as a caring father and extended his love for his children to all people with disabilities. He was vice-chairman of China Disabled Persons' Federation for 10 years.

He made the country's first film about the children with mental disabilities, entitled Venus (Qimingxing), in 1991, for which he chose young actors from schools for disabled children.

The film called public attention to these children. But the director himself said he seldom watched the completed work, because he could not help but cry every time he tried.