China’s Angry Old Men Crack Down Again : Movies: Embarrassed by ‘Ju Dou’s’ Oscar nomination, cultural officials demand admissions of ‘error’ of film bureau officials who sought it. But film’s director has apparently not been affected.

The Chinese officials responsible for entering the controversial film “Ju Dou” in this year’s Academy Awards competition now are being disciplined, according to reports circulating in movie circles here.

“Ju Dou,” a story of adultery and revenge set in the 1920s, angered powerful hard-liners in the Chinese government, who last year blocked it from general release.

Some film officials, however, quietly arranged for the movie to be shown in the liberal economic enclave of Shenzhen, adjacent to Hong Kong. They then submitted it for an Oscar. It became the first Chinese film ever to win an Academy Award nomination.

Before last month’s awards ceremony in Los Angeles, the Chinese government sought to withdraw the film, a request that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected. “Ju Dou” lost out as best foreign-language film to the Swiss work, “Journey of Hope.”

Acting Minister of Culture He Jingzhi, a Marxist ideologue who was appointed after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing, and other critics of the film apparently are angry about the embarrassment brought by the controversy.

The acting culture minister recently ordered that officials at the Chinese Film Bureau, including its chief, Teng Jinxian, and leaders of the China Film Corp., which controls movie exports, write self-criticisms confessing error, according to unnamed Chinese industry sources quoted by the British news agency Reuters.

The writing of self-criticisms has been used for decades by the Chinese Communist Party as a form of punishment, public humiliation and forced “re-education.” But it is unclear how severely the officials involved will be punished or whether they may lose jobs.

Zhang Yimou, the prominent film director who created “Ju Dou,” apparently has not suffered any punishment for the Academy Awards controversy.

He recently finished filming in northern China’s Shanxi Province on “Raise the Red Lantern,” another story set in the pre-World War II period involving adultery by a woman married to an older man.

Zhang has conducted this work in line with his own creative wishes, without worrying about possible censorship, said one of his film industry friends. Post-production work on the movie, which is being made in cooperation with a Taiwan company, has already begun, the friend said.

“If Zhang faces any trouble with the government,” commented another representative from the Chinese film industry, “it is only about the issue of his next film being released or censored. He is personally in no danger at all.”

This source, himself a struggling young filmmaker, compared Zhang to China’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll singer, Cui Jian, who was recently allowed to travel to Hong Kong for a concert tour. “The government would never touch either one of them,” he said. “Both of them are too famous. But Zhang has even less to worry about than Cui Jian.”

“Ju Dou” is the artistically filmed story of a young woman named Ju Dou who is forced against her will to marry the aging owner of a dye factory. The elderly husband beats her ferociously when she fails to become pregnant. She then falls in love with her husband’s adopted son. They bear a child, setting in motion events that lead to tragedy.

The film’s strong sexual themes, bleak depiction of rural life and morbid ending may all have played a role in provoking Chinese authorities’ anger. The tale also can be viewed as a metaphor reflecting on the fate of China itself, which today is still, ultimately controlled by a tiny clique of old men headed by Deng Xiaoping, 86. Authorities seem to fear the film’s strength in arousing sympathy for the young lovers and anger toward the old man.

“People have said that the main reason the movie was banned was because of its violent portrayal of the old man,” commented the young filmmaker. “This is a government of old men, so they are naturally more offended than we are by things like that.”

He added that the movie’s celebration of self-fulfillment and individual values may also be seen as “infectious.”

“All the current Chinese films that the state supports,” he said, “are based on collective values of unity and placing the common welfare above oneself. ‘Ju Dou’ fights this kind of thinking.”

A few directors, like Zhang, with access to foreign funding, may still be able to make top-quality films that explore sensitive themes. But most ordinary directors in China realize that “we cannot make films like ‘Ju Dou’ anymore,” the young filmmaker said, explaining, “The government is not afraid of one knife. But it is afraid of a big wave.”

Times researcher Nick Driver contributed to this article.