The pacing was terrible in the second half. They built the character up so well only to fast forward through most of his adult life? I have no clue what happened in his life between the start of world war 2 til his death after watching this. It makes no sense to be so lazy on the second half.
shareNo replies? Seriously? They fast forwarded through his life. I didn't even know what happened without going on wikipedia. He goes from 20 to 40 then from 40 to 60 all in about 30 minutes.
shareI'm guessing maybe nothing much happened when he was 40 to 60. Wasn't he imprisoned then?
shareWas he? They started showing ww2 and then they just fast forwarded through everything that happened. I seriously have no clue what happens to him after peter o toole leaves the movie. might as well quit the movie right there.
sharehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Manchukuo
Heads of State of Manchukuo
In 1931, the Empire of Japan occupied the province of Manchuria after a "terrorist" incident and Pu-Yi was asked to help establish an independent Manchuria (there really was no option of declining). He agreed as long as it would be a monarchy. He was smuggled into Manchuria on 13 February 1932 and the independence of Manchuria, now called Manchukuo, was proclaimed on the 18th. The Japanese military commander advised Pu-Yi that he was regent (reign name Datong) for the time being and would become Emperor of Manchukuo (this occurred 1 March 1934, with Kāngdé as the new reign name) but that he could not reign using the title of Emperor of China. Shortly the Kwangtung Army leadership placed Japanese vice ministers in his cabinet. All Chinese advisors gradually resigned or were dismissed and the Kwangtung Army basically ruled the country. Throughout World War II he was a "rubber stamp" or propaganda image for the Japanese. When the Japanese surrender was announced on 15 August 1945, he was "asked" to abdicate, which he did.
In attempting to flee to Japan, Pu-Yi and his compatriots were captured by Russian soldiers. They were taken to Siberia where they were separated and he was kept under "house arrest" until August 1946 when he was flown to Tokyo to appear as a witness in various War Crimes trails. After several months he was returned to Siberia. He remained there until the end of July 1950 when, in response to a request from Mao Tse-tung for his return, he was sent back to China. He was placed in a camp for political prisoners undergoing "re-education". He remained there until his release as "rehabilitated" in 1959, receiving full rights as a citizen on 20 November 1960. During and after his imprisonment he was frequently paraded before visitors and gave numerous interviews. He was authorized to write his autobiography, which was published in 1964. On May Day of 1962 he married Li Shu-hsien, a forty year old doctor and continued working on various commissions and committees until his death on 17 October 1967. The cause of his death was complications arising from kidney cancer and heart disease.[1]
keep in mind that from 1945-1959 he's in the hands of the communists and the scenes at the prison camp cover those years. So they cut out WWII, but show us what happened in that documentary at the camp (besides, we all know what happened during WWII). The only part they skip is 1959-1967, where he's a gardener in Beijing, which is sort of after his story had ended. I can't really think of a period that they totally left out except that section at the end (and lets be honest, we don't need to watch an old man go grocery shopping and growing plants for 8 years).
"you're paid to think Mr. Scientist. National Security is our business"
I agree with the OP that the resolution of the film was extremely rushed.
"We don't need to watch an old man go grocery shopping and growing plants for 8 years"
No, of course we don't, but Bertolucci missed a real opportunity to dramatize how the Last Emperor of China (which is a pretty big deal) got used to being a normal old guy who tied his own shoes, gardened for a living and grocery-shopped. It sort of brings to mind one of the most poignant parts of "The Shawshank Redemption", which is seeing the old guy, Brooks, try (and fail) to adapt to civilian life. Also, we didn't get to see anything of what happened to his wives, most of whom outlived him well into the nineties.
I don't think they needed to show that because they already show him getting humbled in prison. Even a mundane existence in the outside world would be better compared to being in prison.
shareHe wasn't in the hands of the communists until later.
the following was from wikipedia
At the end of World War II, Puyi was captured by the Soviet Red Army on 16 August 1945 while he was in an airplane fleeing to Japan. The Soviets took him to the Siberian town of Chita. He lived in a sanatorium, then later taken to Khabarovsk near the Chinese border.
In 1946, he testified at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo, detailing his resentment of how he had been treated by the Japanese.
When the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, Puyi was repatriated to China after negotiations between the Soviet Union and China. Except for a period during the Korean War, when he was moved to Harbin, Puyi spent ten years in the Fushun War Criminals Management Centre in Liaoning province until he was declared reformed. Puyi came to Peking in 1959 with special permission from Chairman Mao Zedong and lived the next six months in an ordinary Peking residence with his sister before being transferred to a government-sponsored hotel. He voiced his support for the Communists and worked at the Peking Botanical Gardens. At the age of 56, he married Li Shuxian, a hospital nurse, on 30 April 1962, in a ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of the Consultative Conference. He subsequently worked as an editor for the literary department of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, where his monthly salary was around 100 yuan, an office in which he served from 1964 until his death.
With encouragement from Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai, and openly endorsed by the Chinese government, Puyi wrote his autobiography Wo De Qian Ban Sheng (Chinese: 我的前半生; pinyin: Wǒ Dè Qián Bàn Shēng; Wade–Giles: Wo Te Ch'ien Pan Sheng; literally "The First Half of My Life"; translated in English as From Emperor to Citizen) in the 1960s together with Li Wenda, an editor of Peking's People Publishing Bureau.
Mao Zedong started the Cultural Revolution in 1966, and the youth militia known as the Red Guards saw Puyi, who symbolised Imperial China, as an easy target of attack. Puyi was placed under protection by the local public security bureau and, although his food rations, salary, and various luxuries, including his sofa and desk, were removed, he was not publicly humiliated as was common at the time. But by now, Puyi had aged and began to decline. He died in Peking of complications arising from kidney cancer and heart disease on 17 October 1967 at the age of 61.
It's pretty sad when you need to have a film be your history lesson. Go read a book and then watch this film within the context of the history you've learned.
Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/flickfever
Well, I think that the entire history about Pu Yi was to thin to carry an entire movie. I think a mini series would've perhaps enhanced the story more! It was an interesting story, I just dont think a 2.30 long film did the story justice!
It did feel contrived and rushed,like all of a sudden he was a gardener! Like someone said, maybe it would've been more interesting to see how he managed normal things.
Maybe the directors cut version is more "perfect", I bet it isn't as rushed as the original version!
Yes you are right the movie was pretty solid untill the second half it started to go downhill, the movie just sucked after that but the final scene when he goes to the forbidden city after all those years it starts building momentum agin but sadly it ends right there, i didn't care much for the movie anyway so ...
sharemaybe, its in the director's cut, which is 5 hours long I think
shareThe movie is overrated! Just like Gandhi and Chariots of Fire
share