One striking characteristic of the heroine Weihong is her pride. She seems to be always looking towards the sky, as if she can see paratroopers dancing among the clouds. One smile from a handsome paratrooper touches her pure young heart. Therefore, the romanticized career of a paratrooper becomes one of Weihong's dreams.
While in real life, dreams are crushed by reality, this is not the case for Weihong. When her dream is invaded by reality, she creates a substitute. Since she cannot become a paratrooper, she builds a parachute by herself and rides her bicycle fast to make it rise up into the sky. And though her bicycle will never fly, this scene captures the quixotic spirit of Weihong's character.
However, Weihong has a totally different view toward marriage. She marries Mr. Wang because his position as the town leader's driver could help squelch rumors about her in the small town. But the loveless marriage soon ends in divorce.
When later she runs into the veteran paratroop officer whom she has been secretly in love with since a girl, the scene suddenly makes the audience realize that all of her previous romances only existed in her dreams. And when Weihong finds that the officer does not even remember her, her dream of many years finally collapses. But ultimately, the shattered dream gives Weihong a chance to remarry, to become a mother, and to begin a new life.
It is true that the Gaos are a loving family and both parents are admirable characters: Weiguo is not discriminated against but favored by his parents, while Mr and Mrs Gao are endlessly patient with their daughter Weihong, and pursue many avenues to find her a job. There are also many detailed scenes in the movie that illustrate parental love, such as when Mrs Gao makes new quilts for her engaged daughter, and when Mr Gao saves the little milk in the family for his son. There are also a lot of scenes that show the warm feelings among the siblings.
Weiguo, one of the most interesting characters in the movie, is sometimes very naive and sometimes not. He attaches great importance to friends and is always afraid of losing face in front of them. He regards Xizi and others as good friends but is frequently the butt of their jokes. However, he doesn't realize this, and thinks this is the way good friends should be. The contrast between Weiguo and his companions is striking. He always feels greatly obliged to his "friends" like Xizi and Guozi who actually often take advantage of him.
However, once, the apparently stupid Weiguo does something not stupid at all. When Xizi tries to cheat some money out of him, he gives Xizi no money at all, but those tools Xizi used to bully him with. This makes Xizi feel both silly and annoyed.
What an act of revenge! This time, the "clever" Xizi becomes the butt of "stupid" Weiguo's joke. We as the audience can only guess if he (I'm assuming "he" refers to Weiguo?) did that on purpose or just from stupidity.
Peacocks don't appear until the very end of the movie. The title suggests that everyone dreams their life will always, ultimately, reveal beauty and truth, like a beautiful peacock.
Peacocks don't appear until the very end of the movie. The title suggests that everyone dreams their life will always, ultimately, reveal beauty and truth, like a proud peacock.
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