Postmen in the Mountains

An old postman has spent his whole life delivering mail to the mountain of Hunan and is about to retire. His only son is due to take over his duties. As father and son journey through the mountains, the son begins to appreciate the toil and burden his father has to bear as postman for the villagers, and the old postman is also deeply moved as his son relates his mother's anxiety as she waits for him to return home from every trip. (IMDb)

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The father prepares the postbag the night before, arranging the mail in the order it will be needed, and wrapping everything carefully against the possibility of bad weather. This will be the last time he packs the bag, and the first time the route will be carried by his son -- who is inheriting his job.

The next morning unfolds awkwardly. The boy's mother is worried: Will be find the way? Will he be safe? The father (Teng Rujun) is unhappy to end the job that has defined his life. But his son (Liu Ye) will be accompanied by the family dog, who has always walked along with the father and knows the path. It is a long route, 112 kilometers through a mountainous rural region of China, and the trip will take three days. The son shoulders the bag and sets off, and then there is a problem: The dog will not come along. It looks uncertainly at the father. It runs between them. It is not right that the son and the bag are leaving, and the father is staying behind.

This is the excuse the father is looking for, to walk the route one last time and show his son the way. The two men and the dog set off together in Huo Jianqi's "Postmen in the Mountains," a film so simple and straightforward that its buried emotions catch us a little by surprise. (...)

The trek represents the longest time father and son have ever spent together; the boy was raised by his mother while his father was away, first for long periods, then for three days at a time. They've never even had much of a talk. Now the son observes that his father, who seemed so distant, has many friendships and relationships along the way -- that he plays an important role, as a conduit to the outside world, a bringer of good news and bad, a traveler in gossip, a counselor, adviser and friend.

The villages and isolated dwellings are located in a region that must have been chosen for its astonishing beauty. There are no factories, freeways or fast food to mar the view, and the architecture has the beauty that often results when poverty and necessity dictate the function, and centuries evolve the form. The dog seems proud to show these things to his new young master. (...)  ~  Lives of 'Postmen' all about the journey (Roger Ebert review).