To Live
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Movie Reviews of To Live
Movie Review: A Window into Communist China
Summary: 5 Stars
"To Live" is an outstanding film directed by the talented Chinese director Zhang Yimou. The film chronicles the lives of a married couple, Fugui and Jiazhen, from the 1940s, prior to the Communist takeover, to the 1970s in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. Despite many heartbreaking hardships, they remain committed to each other and to their family. The film gave me as a Westerner an instructive introduction to modern Chinese history through the life experience of this family. It also offers a compelling example of marital and familial loyalty.
That this film was made in Communist China is remarkable. In a low-key but pointed manner, the movie is very critical of the Communist Chinese system. A Chinese student friend informed me that the film was banned from movie theaters in China, although one could find it on video/dvd. The film shows the negative consequences of Communism's ceaseless public pressure to accomplish various goals and insure social conformity. Fugui's precious puppets are almost destroyed in the 1950's as part of a community drive to produce steel and are finally destroyed completely in the 1960's to shield the family from scrutiny during the Cultural Revolution. Fugui is fearfully eager to prove that he and his family are loyal supporters of the Revolution given their wrong social origins as members of the upper classes. He frantically retrieves his letter of commendation from the Communist army when his wife nearly ruins it in the laundry. The letter is carefully framed and provides them with important political protection. His fears of not fitting in with Communist society and possibly being targeted as a troublemaker or enemy of the state lead to the death of their precious son. After days without adequate rest because of the mass effort to meet their area's steel quota, Fugui overrides his wife's wish to let their son sleep and miss school because an important Communist political functionary will be visiting the school. In a heavily symbolic moment, the overtired functionary, who has fallen asleep at the wheel, crashes into a wall killing the overtired and also sleeping son. The Communist leader turns out to be Fugui's old friend who had worked with him in the traveling puppet theater and served with him when both were forced into the Communist army. While optimism and benevolent social goals mark Communist society at the time, the system also created an atmosphere of fear and conformity. Fugui and his family, as well as his former friend the Communist bureaucrat are all suffering.
A generation later during the Cultural Revolution, the pathology of Communism has worsened. The fanatical cadres of younger Communists turn on the older generations, including the old Communist leaders, doctors, scientists, intellectuals, artists, and professionals. The requirements for social conformity have only intensified. In the tragic climax of the film, Fugui and Jiazhen's only surviving child dies in childbirth because all the doctors have been expelled from the hospitals by the zealous Marxist students. What was once a mix of hopeful altruism and oppressive force has degenerated into outright insanity.
But Fugui and Jiazhen survive this senseless and entirely avoidable tragedy as they have survived so much already. This is the film's final word--that the strength of the Chinese people, rooted in fidelity to marriage and family--will withstand personal failings as well as large political and social forces, even the anti-human and anti-Chinese Marxist system.
It is well-known how much China has distanced itself from the Cultural Revolution and even the central economic philosophy of traditional Marxism. The Chinese enjoy much greater economic and personal freedom than in that sad era. Yet political and religious freedoms are still greatly circumscribed, as the anniversary of Tianamen Square and the present experience of many Chinese Christians remind us. But the Chinese people, strong and resilient, will continue to seek for that better life that all mankind hopes for.
Movie Review: Famine not explicitly portrayed
Summary: 5 Stars
There is a subtle emphasis on food in the two movies of Yimou Zhang that I have seen, but no plain indication of the Great Chinese Famine of 1958-1961, brought on by the so-called Great Leap Forward to an extent that has been debated. But the historical fact of it is not debated, whatever the whole truth about its causes and whatever the toll, whether 15 million or 36 million. Perhaps Chinese audiences do not need to be reminded of it, but some occidental audiences might need to understand this much about the meaning of a plate of food in such movies.
The movie hardly brings out the worst of the prolonged cataclysms protrayed incidentally: the civil war, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. The war scenes are handled in a stylized rather than realistic manner, but this is typical of movies all over the world. Blood and guts, pain and misery, death and destruction, realistically portrayed, in such quantity as war makes for, all for somebody's stubborn greed, would have all the banality of evil and hardly be entertaining or even interesting. The terribly costly political mistakes are not portrayed in their fullness either. When the Red Guards, who in reality caused so much destruction, appear, the movie's squad of them turns out to be exceptional, being led by a shrewd, good-hearted guy. So in this sense of not showing how bad these chapters of history really were, the movie could be considered propaganda. But anybody inclined to dismiss the movie as propaganda should see it and consider how even propaganda has to appeal to already existing values of the target population. This movie appeals to, or counts on, primary values of simple, suffering humanity, values that I hope Americans share. It is remarkable that the movie was allowed to be made in China at all; I hope that it can be shown in China.
After hearing the downright weird voices in the puppet shows and reflecting on them, I realized that our own animated cartoons use strange voices, too.
Personally I think that anybody interested in China should read of Gladys Aylward and other Christians before the Communist take-over. See, for example, _Gladys Aylward: the Little Woman_ (ISBN 0802429866), not the movie made about her, _The Inn of the Sixth Happiness_, which distorts reality quite unnecessarily.
The more profound the art, the more to be sought is He who gave many convincing proofs of His having risen from the dead -- for His, not Chairman Mao's, are the words that will not pass away although heaven and earth will -- and the more memorable is the question, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into the sky?" (Luke 21:33, Acts 1:1,1:11)
Movie Review: Sometimes the most important thing is just to live
Summary: 5 Stars
Before directing large and lavish martial-arts epics like "House of Flying Daggers" and "Curse of the Golden Flower", Zhang Yimou largely focused on character-driven dramas like "To Live" (and "Raise the Red Lantern", and "Not One Less") which featured ordinary people coping with extra-ordinary circumstances. His film "To Live" is a great film which takes place during a tumultuous period Chinese history, spanning from the 1930's and the Cultural Revolution. Against the backdrop of world-changing events, one family struggles, as the title suggests, just to live.
The film opens with Fugui (You Ge), a wealthy lay-about, gambling away his family's fortune and being left by his wife, Jiazhen (Gong Li). After reconciling with Jiazhen, Fugui is forced to become a traveling musician to support his family, only to be caught up in the conflict between the KMT and the Communists. After Liberation, the family's poverty turns out the be a blessing in disguise, and the family escapes the persecution of the wealthy and land-owning classes. However, life is not easy for Fugui and Jiazhen in post-1949 China, as the effects of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution take their toll on the family. Amidst great tragedy though, the film's simple and profound message rings clear: no matter what happens, live is worth living. This is a great film and highly recommended to anyone interested in World or Chinese cinema.
One word of note though: if you're not familiar with modern Chinese history, you may be a little lost during some scenes. I would recommend maybe doing a little research on 20th century China before watching this film in order to better understand some of the events depicted.
Movie Review: "To Live" Life
Summary: 5 Stars
Director Zhang Yimou creates an incredibly vivid portrait of life -- its triumphs, its ironies, its tragedies -- in TO LIVE, arguably one of his best films to date.
TO LIVE weaves the story of one poverty-stricken family -- Fugui, Jiazhen (played by the stunning Gong Li), Youqing, and Fengxia -- as they face life's challenges through several decades. Principally, the story uses the backdrop of the revolution to alter China's political structure more and more toward Communism, and this works winningly as the family continues to have to rethink their commitment to political principles while enduring some devastating losses. The acting is superb, the cinematography is unforgettable, and the story is equal parts pain and pleasure, with humor thrown in to boot.
TO LIVE is, arguably, not for everyone. It is a pure drama, and, as a consequence, there are several passages that may seem meaningless to the viewer as their significance can only be measured by the events to come; patience is a virtue that is heavily rewarded in viewing this stellar film from one of the most creative directors working in the world today. However, I would strongly support TO LIVE being required viewing for students of history if not for students in high school to come to a greater understanding (and appreciation) of the relevance that government plays in shaping the lives we live.
Movie Review: An Epic
Summary: 5 Stars
"To Live" is an epic movie of China from the 1940's until the recent past. It follows one family who suffer a number of set-backs and tragedies in surviving from one regiem to the next. The film is shot with excellent color, sets, costumes, dialogue, direction, and acting. There are scenes of dynamic proportions and others of dynamic emotions. By the time the film came to a close, I was almost in awe of what I had seen. It reminds me of the movie "The Last Emporer" and the book "One Man's Bible" although the former covers a much larger scope of history.
I was aware of most of this history having read about it in the newspapers as it was happening. However, I have to admit that the Cultural Revolution and other changes were confusing but "To Live" gives a good understanding of the effect, if not the cause, of these events. I understand that the writer and director were disciplined for their artistic endeavors in this movie. It isn't surprizing given the clear political statement that is made about the arbitrary nature of the purges.
Post WWII Chinese history is complex and so is their culture. "To Live" brings all of this to life in a brilliant manner. I saw a reference to this movie as a Chinese "Gone with the Wind". That sounds like as good an analogy as any.