Cooper's gruff, reticent performance undercuts the romantic aura of savior that clings to the most heroic secondary role in this well-made old-fashioned movie. A survivor of Andersonville prison, he is a hard-drinking, war-weary lost soul who swallows his feelings. Lalu's rescuer is himself far from unblemished. The fiendish Hong King and his money-making fever are seen as just an extension of the surrounding entrepreneurial fever. Even the least sympathetic characters are revealed as vulnerable, multi-dimensional people buffeted by forces beyond their control. Threatened with rape, she wields a knife with a determination so ferocious that her captor realizes she is unsuited for prostitution. Chao projects the character's steely will. From the opening scenes, in which she is tearfully carted off from her family while her father turns his back and puts his hands over his ears to block out her cries, the character is revealed as a figure in a larger historical landscape.Įven in moments of terrible anguish, Ms. That tone is set by Rosalind Chao's impressive, understated portrayal of Lalu. Although the film contains many scenes that could have been directed for excruciating suspense or for tears, its tone remains objective to the point of detachment. "1,000 Pieces of Gold," directed by Nancy Kelly, is so straightforward in its storytelling and unfussy in its cinematography that at times it has almost a documentary feel. Not the least of the dangers Lalu survives is a white lynching party that drives all the Chinese laborers out of Warren's Diggens.
GIRLS OF THE GOLDEN WEST REVIEW FREE
Denied naturalization and the right to vote, they were eventually excluded from the United States by the Chinese Restriction Act, which Congress passed in 1882 and which ended the country's free immigration policy. Although welcomed at first, they were soon persecuted by white laborers motivated by a combination of racism and resentment of their industriousness and their willingness to work for very low wages. With the discovery of gold in the West, a wave of Chinese laborers arrived to work on the railroads and in the mines.
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