irming our suspicion. Nine looks dazedly at Yu as she recovers from her surprise. In a wordless exchange of glances, she communicates her sexual desire for him. The latter begins to trample upon the six-foot-high sorghum which Yu flattens into a circular bed. Having accomplished this, Yu once again takes Nine under his arm and effortlessly carries her into the clearing. His manner of courtship, brusque and unpretentious, emphasises male power, strength and virility.(4) In contrast to the image of the civilized gentleman, Yu exudes a raw and vital energy which makes him a compatible match for the bold-spirited Nine. At this point, the shrill background music of the traditional suona horn is announced, "echoing the sounds of an old man shouting in the fields" while drums "like the beating of a human heart"(5) herald their ardour and liberation. The camera moves to show a close-up of Nine's face, eyes closed in rapture with the sun like a halo around her as she softly falls backward onto her true nuptial bed of red sorghum. Another high-angled shot reveals in panoramic beauty Nine outstretched on the ground with Yu standing over her, while all around them, the red sorghum plants wave and rustle in the wind. The next image gives the film its title: a close-up of the rhythmic undulation of the red sorghum leaves in the wind -- a powerful metaphor for the sexual act and a symbol of the film's central themes of passion and freedom. Later in the film, the trampling of the sorghum field changes into a symbol of oppression as the members of the community, young and old, are forced by Japanese soldiers to flatten the wild sorghum to make space for a new highway. In Red Sorghum, Zhang uses the interaction between nature and human beings to produce images filled with vitality. Yu and Nine consummate their love not in the darkness of a room but under a blazing sun in the sorghum field. Their ardent encounter results in the birth of their son Douguan ...
