For the first time, the director explained the background behind her latest movie, Awakening, following its world premiere at American University’s Wechsler Theater on April 26.
Tracing back through human history to the Song and Han dynasties and reaching further back in time to a prehistoric period, the movie follows the lives of a couple that are together repeatedly—as two deities, as two women, and as a man and a woman.
“What do we really come here for? … A deep question,” Wei asks. Then she says humbly, “I don’t know. Maybe everyone has a different answer or perhaps no answer at all.”
The movie depicts scenes from ancient and modern mainland China. English subtitles are provided. It was mostly filmed in the Republic of Korea last summer. The title in Chinese is “Reincarnation” (Tou Tai), but is named Awakening in English because the concept of reincarnation is not widely understood or accepted in the West.
The English title Awakening, however, fits well with the story from modern times when the main characters come to an understanding of their spiritual roots.
Repeated Lives
The stories are a mixture of historical fact and legends. During the Han (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), the couple incarnate as two ladies—Wang Zhaojun and her lady-in-waiting.
Wang Zhaojun is one of the four great beauties in Chinese history, said Wei. She volunteers to leave her homeland and become the bride of the Hun king in what is now Mongolia. Wang Zhaojun becomes severed from her home and her culture. The two women are very close and so her assistant elects to accompany her. We are told in the movie that Wang Zhaojun’s deed brings about peace and harmony between the Han and Hun peoples.
The sadness of the separation from homeland was mentioned by Wei as emblematic of tragedy and sadness in all our lives, regardless of the era in which we are living.
In the Song dynasty (960–1279), the two incarnate as a young woman and man who want to marry and have a life together. But tragically, that is not allowed to happen. Again, sadness prevails.
Finally, in modern times, the two individuals are married and have a son. But due to the low morality in communist China, their relationship is profoundly tested and falters for a while. They are faced with difficult decisions. The severe and brutal persecution of Falun Gong provides the backdrop for the main characters to understand the meaning of their existence.
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