1,000 Pieces of Gold (1991)

The Chinese experience on the American frontier is a neglected subject in film, so this film, about a Chinese woman sold into a kind of slavery in an Oregon mining town but managing to maintain her dignity, is especially welcome. There are few surprises in this gently told tale; when Lalu arrives in town, the first two white men to greet her are a swarthy miner with a Confederate flag on his hat and a gentler saloon owner who shows her kindness and respect. You know the first man will wind up lusting after Lalu and eventually start spouting anti-Chinese sentiments when he can't succeed in bedding her. The second man is Charlie Bemis, and at the halfway point of the story, he manages to "win" Lalu in a card game, saving her from a reversal of the fate worse than death of many a silent film melodrama: the woman sold into white slavery at the hands of leering Orientals. The second half of the story has Charlie and Lalu reaching a truce of sorts; she won't be his lover, either, but she'll live under his roof while she searches for ways to make enough money to return to her homeland. There are two other pairs of men in Lalu's life: Jim and Hong King, the Chinese American entrepreneurs who treat her like a commodity, though Jim comes to regret his attitude; and a pair of father figures, one who betrays Lalu, the other who teaches her to reconcile her past with her future. The beautiful Rosalind Chao makes the most of a rare lead role, and as Charlie, Chris Cooper offers his usual measure of taciturn integrity. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide