Third Sister Liu

A sharp-tongued crooning farm girl incites the masses against greedy landowners—through a singing competition!—in this eye-opening Communist musical, which manages to be surprisingly entertaining, vehemently anti-capitalist, and thanks to a striking setting within Guangxi’s limestone karst landscapes, quite beautiful. “Is that the one who loves singing and refuses to pay taxes?” demands Landlord Mo when news of tune-filled rabble-rouser Liu Sanjie reaches him; soon it’s time to throw down . . . in verse! Part of the film industry’s effort to showcase minority cultures aligned with state values, Third Sister Liu was based on Guangxi folk operas and a Zhuang legend, updated as an allegory of the Communist Revolution.