But it has great dancing. The rest is as subtle as a sledgehammer , very simplistic and self congratulatory , with mediocre to bad acting and dialogue. The film is so heavy handed that it undermines it's own case and comes off as a propaganda film as blatant as any from a totalitarian state.
shareGrowing up behind the iron curtain I have a different view than you are. I do not agree with your assessment of the film at all. It was not simplistic and it was not anti-China western propaganda either. Did you take the notice that the main character was involved in the production and script writing, or do you think he was brainwashed by FBI?
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I have to agree with katazynams. I think the director provided a fascinating look into China during its Cultural Revolution, one that was unbiased and nonjudgmental. I do wish Beresford had spent more time exploring Li's decision to stay especially given the fear he had for his family's well being. That has to be an awful decision for anyone, knowing one's choice may have dire consequences for loved ones. But the early scenes that show Li as a child training for dance are fascinating and propaganda free.
I agree with the above 2 posters. To be honest, they sort of mellowed out Communist China. Insolence, for the most part, was greeted with being shot. If not from the government, but random civilians. The government brainwashed all its citizens into being radicals.
shareI am Chinese, My parent was living in cultural revolution when they were young. I gonna anti this China as a Chinese.
sharewell with parents who grew up under era portrayed in the film, they certainly did not think it anti-China at all. It was in fact point on, to the exact phrases uttered by party officials and educators in the film. My parents thought it pretty accurate.
shareHave you ever actually talked to someone who lived through the Cultural Revolution?? Or, at least, seen some of the more serious films to come out of Fifth and Sixth Generation Chinese cinema?
In case you didn't get the memo, a society underwent mass insanity. It happens. Learn about it, before you rush to ill-informed judgements.
Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers! But if you could show us something in a nice possum...
hmmm... I don't think the movie happened during the Cultural Revolution context (which I believe was in the 60s). The movie happened during 70s and 80s when China was more relaxing. I actually read an interview to LiCunXin who said that Deng Xiao Ping was really open during his conversation with then Vice President Bush and gave the order to allow him to stay during that "21 hour crisis" (not featured in the movie).
All being said, I did feel the movie was a bit simplistic and superficial, it doesn't go deeper than what we normally hear: Communist China very bad, West very good because of freedom. So, I was leaning towards it being an Anti-China propaganda. But at the end, it did show the gradual changes in attitude from China, the parents being allowed to visit him (arranged by the Chinese govnt in the real story) and he being allowed back. So I took the movie more as a description of the process and evolution of history. LiCunXin himself said in the interview that many decisions were based on the historic circumstances, he wouldn't do the same if he were born in more current times. And the historic part is pretty accurate. My mom, who lived through that era, didn't feel it was exaggerated at all.
The scene of Li's mom being shot, was a bit confusing tho, because I think that was the norm during the Cultural Revolution, but not during the 80s. But I guess it does express the fear and the trauma that people that lived through the Cultural Revolution still has. For sure my mom still has it.
I do not think this movie as simplistic, though it is predictable like most biopics are - success after struggles and hardships - but nevertheless found the the storyline engaging. It is not even anti-China. It portrayed a historical period in this very much alive country, the only one that still is of the ancient civilizations. It's a country that has undergone a lot of difficult times so I'm not always expecting subtleties to be dominant in their films. Lots of popular movies dished out by Hollywood have abrasive, in your face presentations, heavier and most annoying to me than the method the director used in this movie. The background of its Cultural Revolution interested me, how they used ballet, modified it to fit the political exigencies of their time period. Then there's the inner personal conflict of the main character, his urge for creative growth and on the other, his craving for his roots and sense of belonging. This last one made me empathize fully with the character.
Though the acting isn't Oscar material, those two layers in the movie more than made it up for me, besides of course the wonderful dancing. Regarding the ballet scenes, one can see immediately no double was used or clever camera shots employed to fake the movements, no cgi'd head of the lead pasted on a professional dancer's body ... the sincerity of the presentations, acting and dance wise made this movie a moving experience, personally speaking.
Truth inexorably,inscrutably seeks and reveals Itself into the Light.
I assume you mean it comes off as anti-Chinese GOVERNMENT propaganda to you, which is the same as saying it comes off as pro-Chinese PEOPLE propaganda. I understand your not wanting to call attention to the distinction.
The fact is that truth-telling about China will always make the government look bad, as well it should: Mao's China was the most bloodthristy regime in human history, killing somewhere between 50 and 100 million of its own people. To try to dismiss truth as propaganda is, itself, propaganda, and propaganda which aids evil (even if merely done in a state of useful idiocy).
I agree with what most of the other posters said about it being fairly accurate as far as the depiction of Chinese life goes, but I would agree that the portrayal of life in America is also pretty simplistic. I have never lived in Houston, but I have been there several times and it's not all fancy malls, shiny skyscrapers, and cultural centers. It's also shotgun shacks in neighborhoods you don't want to be in in the middle of the day, let alone at night. The physical amenities aren't much better than those of Li's peasant family, but the social conditions are much worse. Obviously, under Communism, they don't let people be gang bangers. That's the side of Houston they didn't address in this film and I wonder if Li ever even saw it himself.
shareProbably they they did not address that side of Houston because Li never really saw that side of the Houston.
Not only do I agree with the film's portrayal of communist China, it didn't go nowhere near close enough. And this is not a "I'm Chinese so I'm qualified to talk about the issue" remark either.
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