I found this Chinese silent film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I didn't know what to expect because of the title, and I couldn't find a critics' rating, but I was looking forward to it. Basically an unnamed woman, the "Goddess" (Lingyu Ruan), is a devoted mother to her son Shuiping (Keng Li), she works as a prostitute to support herself and her baby. One night there is a street sweep by the police, the woman flees and hides in the room of gambler Zhang (Zhang Zhizhi). She agrees to stay with him for the night, so he will not report her to the police, later however he and two of his friends show up at her place, Zhang claims she is now his property. The woman attempts to flee, but Zhang catches up to her, and claims to have sold Shuiping as punishment, he does return her child and she accepts he has made his point. The woman realises she cannot protect her son from Zhang and gives, but she does hide some of her earnings from prostitution behind a loose brick in the wall. When Shuiping grows up to 5 or 6, she enrols him in school, the parents however learn that the woman is a prostitute and complain to the school. The old principal visits the woman at home to find out if this is true, she admits she is a prostitute, but he can see she genuinely loves her child, and his mother is in an unfortunate situation, but he cannot convince the rest of the staff to be lenient, he decides to resign and Shuiping is expelled. The mother decides that she and her child should leave and find somewhere where nobody knows them, but she finds that the money she has hidden behind the loose brick is gone, Zhang found her hiding place. The woman confronts Zhang and demands her money back, he tells her that he has already spent the money, in anger she picks up a bottle and hits him over the head with it, killing him. The woman is sentenced to twelve years in prison, while Shuiping is sent to an orphanage, the school principal comes to visit her, he assures her that he will take care of her son. In the end, the woman asks the principal to tell her son, if he ever asks who his mother is, that she is dead, she does not want him to suffer the shame of her being a prostitute, the picture ends with her imagining a bright future for Shuiping. The leading actress does give a touching performance as the woman who will do anything for child, but a lot of shame and rejection comes for her choices, this may be one of the last silent pictures from Chinese cinema, and it is certainly a worthwhile one, an interesting silent drama. Good!
Review of Shen nu
