Shower

Taking a shower, or taking a bath as is more commonly spoken of from where I came from, is as natural as sleeping. The former is like a work-over for the body while the latter, the mind. So when we saw this movie title on the 4-in-1 DVD, the temptation to find out what the director can possibly cook up from this mundane aspect of life was too much to resist. And we watched it next, after the first.

The film, made in China, revolves around the operator of a public shower facility situated in a small town. Widowed, he lives with his younger son (Er Ming, meaning the second clarity), who is intellectually challenged, while his elder son (understandably he would be Ta Ming, the first clarity. Those days, for simplicity, parents liked to name their children in the order that they were born. Presumably if the operator has a third son, he would have named him Shan Ming, and yes, you guessed it, the third clarity) has gone to the city to seek a better life.

The public bath facility is what one would call a full-service one-stop center as far as one's bathing needs and body grooming are concerned. The range of service extends from standing bath, soaking in pools, communal style, to body massage, mani- and pedicure, and traditional Chinese cupping to relieve minor discomforts, all rendered with a personal touch, by the operator himself. [In the image below, Ta Ming is to the left, then, the Dad, and Er Ming, in that order.]

The simple maintenance routine, cleaning the pools, scrubbing the floor, and running other simple errands amongst the patrons also suits the younger son to the hilt. And it is within this warm (both in terms of the physical comfort and human interaction) that the story of the small town unfolds. It's a man's world in there but apparently those privileged to be admitted because of their gender are not immune to gossips, hitherto regarded as the exclusive province of the fairer sex. [This would be a good time to pause to consider whether you would like to check out the movie first before you read on, for vivid descriptions of moving scenes may follow.]

We learned of a man having connubial problem, precipitated by him hearing his wife being the talk of the town, having run out, butt-naked, to the street in pursuit of a thief who had the audacity to steal her gold pendant while she was bathing, little realizing that a lady would just throw caution, and propriety, to the wind for a worldly possession. Then how the couple patched up, right in the public bath facility, after closing hours, at the behest of the operator, playing the role of a Samaritan.

Then there is another young guy who suffers from stage jitters. He likes to sing, and belts out soulful notes to serenade his cohorts, while in standing bath, with water raining down on him from the faucet above. And his most ardent fan is none other than Er Ming, his child-like complexion inspired by the singing. But, apparently, this is the only time he is in his elements. Fast forwarding, the next scene placed him on stage, in a carnival of sort. Grasping the mike nervously, all he could do was donning a red face, maybe even some blood vessels bursting at their seams but otherwise remaining invisible because of his plump countenance.

Fast forwarding again, there he was at it again. But despite his valiant attempts with all his might and willpower, there was still pin-drop silence. Then rain started to drip upon him from above, and instantly he was transformed, serenading the cheering crowd. Those discerning among you may have surmised, yes, it was Er Ming, who ran up to the side of the stage, a hose in hand, and sprayed the issuing water on to the stage, providing the conducive environment for the singer's ability to take flight. Just to show that empathy and the ability to connect are not contingent upon one's intellectual development. It's ingrained, hard-wired in all of us. Sadly though, our delusion, which seems to correlate well with one's intellectual development, tends to cloak our true nature such that it would not see the light of the day.

Then there were snippets of bathing folklores criss-crossing the film. At a certain place in China, which is arid all round the year marked by water scarcity, there is a custom that girls need to take a bath on the eve of their wedding as a sacred pre-consummation ceremony. So the parents were seen trudging long distances to barter their precious food staples for water, tumbler by tumbler. And they managed to acquire enough water just to fill a tub, for the bride-to-be to complete her obligation.

Such is the profundity of a parent's love, transcending the bounds of physical constraints, just to honor the duty that attends to bringing a human life into this world.

At another place in Tibet, two human forms were braving the elements on a long trek. There were a grandmother and granddaughter, on a pilgrimage to fulfill a life-long dream: to bath in the sacred lake, Lake Mansarovar. According to Wikipedia, Lake Mansarovar, at 4,556 m above mean sea level, is the highest fresh-water lake in the world. "It is a place of pilgrimage, attracting religious people from India, Tibet and the neighboring countries. Bathing in the Manasa Sarovar and drinking its water is believed to cleanse all sins," the same source continues.

So whether doing it everyday, on the eve of one's wedding, or once in a lifetime, bathing has a therapeutic, customary, and spiritual side to it.

Back to the movie theme. Upon receiving a hand-drawn image from Er Ming, who was not able to write because of his intellectual impairment [I have been careful to distinguish between the cognitive part of mental development from the affective part, two terms I picked up from reading Daniel Goldman's works. As is obvious from the above, Er Ming is only deficient in the former but not the latter], Ta Ming rushed home, to find that his Dad was well and sound. It was later we learned that Er Ming had drawn a man sleeping on a bed with him standing by. What Ta Ming interpreted as his Dad passing away was actually Er Ming's conception of him standing next to his sleeping Dad.

Anyway, there were revealing scenes of the Dad wishing very much for Ta Ming to stay back and yet did not want to tie Ta Ming down, curtailing the latter's own ambition. On the other hand, Ta Ming was also torn between filial piety, taking care of his ailing father, unbeknownst to Ta Ming then, and Er Ming who seemed unable to be on his own, and venturing on his own in his yearning for city lights and presumably a better quality of life.

There was a little twist in that Ta Ming had not brought his wife home, ostensibly ashamed of his brother's condition. Seeing that his father really enjoyed tending to his business, and sharing a life with Er Ming whether scrubbing the floor together, or jogging together which always ended up in a last-stretch duel to see who sprinted to home first, Ta Ming tried to prolong his stay as long as possible.

Then tragedy struck and he was forced to make a decision. The dad passed away, and sending Er Ming to a professional care center did not help him because of the new environment. To Er Ming, the public bath facility was the only place he had known, and there too he was most at ease, and was productive, and able to help others. So the brothers took over the business, presumably Ta Ming would one day convince his wife to join him (this conjecture was made from a scene that showed the other line just went dead when Ta Ming was confessing to his wife about his brother over the phone).

I felt warmth, clarity, and serenity at the end of the movie, assured in the belief that despite all the reported human atrocities, there are people who care and in whom human decency is sacrosanct. I leave you with this couplet seen on the door frame to to the public bath facility:


Couplets are traditional Chinese poetic displays of verses that embody good human values. They are popular especially during Chinese New Year when they adorn house portals or interior rooms and boast of both the elegance of the Chinese calligrapy and the profound messages embedded there in. I have not seen this particular one that conveys the message that wholesomeness of thoughts and deeds confers propitiousness on the left, and that decorum is the epitome of etiquette on the right.