SET in mid-1970's China, in the latter days of the Cultural Revolution, "Xiu, Xiu: The Sent Down Girl" relates the touching story of a young girl who is exploited by Communism and a strict, patriarchal society.

The film opens with compelling images of a highly regimented life. Xiu Xiu, the daughter of a local tailor, lacks the necessary connections to better her position in life. She signs up to work the land in rural exile. As a promotion for great services to the cause, she ends up sharing a tent in the wide and lonely prairies with the herdsman Lao Jin, a Tibetan who was castrated in prison. Exiled from his country and alienated from his sex, he is a doubly displaced figure whose intense relationship with the vast land is captured in very poetic terms. Desperate to return to her family, Xiu Xiu doesn't defend herself against sexual assaults by men she believes will help her in exchange.

The rape scenes are shot from Lao Jin's perspective. His lack of sexuality and status reduces him to an onlooker and leaves the audience in a position of painful powerlessness. While the story forcefully portrays the systemic exploitation of a people, its narrative frame is oddly incoherent: the story is told from the point of view of Xiu Xiu's hometown boyfriend who hasn't witnessed or received news about any of the events. His concerned voice, lost throughout the tale, adds an unnecessary melodramatic touch to an otherwise compelling directorial debut.