This is apparently a true story about Ching Man Fei, played by the very pretty Alice Lau, who has been blind since six months old and lives with her family in Canton, China. She is about 17 in the role, though Ms. Lau looks older. Ching wants to study, to learn, but her family does not really want that. Throughout the first part of this film, people say to and about her that she is a burden, that she had to do something evil in a past life etc. The family maid Wo becomes the one person who truly believes in her, taking her around the city and answering her questions about everything and eventually being instrumental in her being able to study. The scenes together of Ching and Wo are terrific, you feel the love and trust between them. There are people who pass by in Ching's life, a blind beggar street girl named Jade and a radio actor, who helps her, but their characters are underdeveloped, as if they really were blips in this person's life (perhaps they were). The one thing I would have liked in this film is to know more about Ching. The film traces a few years of her life but apart from explaining how she was blinded does not go into any time period after, it seems, about age 19. I bought the DVD, and it would have been nice because, again, this must be a true story, for there to be a little booklet or a little bio on screen. What you're left with, however, is a really sweet, sentimental film about a blind girl who has ambitions at a time when the blind were treated solely as mistakes of nature. That is more than enough for me, I did like this relatively short film (about 80 minutes) a lot, I just would have liked to know more about her character. I do recommend it, but I wanted more back story. See it, its well made and Alice Lau is wonderful, very believable as the blind Ching Man Fei. The movie is inspirational and that theme is wonderfully conveyed. A definite 8.
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