To Live
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Movie Reviews of To Live
Movie Review: IT IS VERY BEAUTIFUL
Summary: 5 Stars
IT IS A GOOD MOVIE ,YOU HAVE TO SEE.I WISH YOU LIKE ITMovie Review: Glory to the revolution...
Summary: 4 Stars
Not.
What I think Zhang Yimou's message here is that the will of the people "to live," as in the title, to survive and overcome obstacles is what defines the Chinese people. They ride the ox of communism as a boat rides a wave. They adapt.
Consider that tall and thin Fugui (played with consummate skill by You Ge) says that a chick will become a chicken when it grows up, and then a sheep and then an ox and then the Communist Party. But as the film ends he tells his grandson only that the chick will become a chicken and then a sheep and then an ox. He doesn't mention communism. In this way we know that the people have tamed the ox.
Zhang's film is an epic parable of life in China in the 20th century. It opens before the communist revolution with protagonist Fugui as a wayward son who is gambling the family fortune away. His wife, Jiazhen (Gong Li) pleads with him to stop, but he cannot. He is addicted to vice. Symbolically he represents the old regime. He loses everything, wife included and goes to live in the streets. After some time the revolutionary war begins and he and his friends find it convenient to switch sides and join the revolutionary army--he as an entertainer for the troops, a puppeteer. He and wife reunite and become loyal and even enthusiastic communists. He is lucky to have lost his fortune for now he is recognized as a hero of the revolution, while the man who won his family's house at dice is declared a counter-revolutionary and meets a bad end.
As in every Zhang Yimou film I have seen, everything is beautifully and exquisitely done. His work is characterized by an artist's sense of color and form, by an engaging simplicity in the telling, and by a subtle sense of what is going on politically, and especially by a deep and abiding sense of humanity. Here the transformation of Chinese society from feudalism to communism to the capitalist/communism hybrid that exists today is shown through the eyes and experiences of the people; and what is emphasized is the endurance and the will of the people to survive, adapt and finally to flourish regardless of who might be in power.
I would compare Zhang Yimou to the very greatest directors, say, to Stanley Kubrick, to Francis Ford Coppola, to Louis Malle, to Krzysztof Kieslowski in sheer artistic talent. Like Malle he is warm and honest about human beings and what they do without being maudlin or sentimental. Like Coppola he has an epic-maker's vision, and like the Coppola of the Godfather films, a strong sense of family. Like Kubrick he is creative and always aware of the needs of the audience, and like Kieslowski he is clever.
This is in some respects Zhang Yimou's finest achievement because of the way he tells the story of communism in China. I am reminded of the way Louis Malle tells the truth about human sexuality without inciting the censors. Here Zhang Yimou tells the truth about the communist experience in China, subtly demonstrating its cruelties and stupidities without, amazing enough, incurring the wrath of the authorities. (Some of his films have been banned in China, but I understand they are readily available nonetheless.) Here the kids are smiling and happy as they work in the steel mill. The accident that kills Fugui's son is seen as just that, an accident and not the fault of the "Great Leap Forward." The members of the educated class, who are ridiculed, beaten and banished (and worse) during the "Cultural Revolution," accept their fate as their just deserts--the doctor who insists that it is better to wear the placard shaming him that is hung from around his neck than it is to take it off. The local official who has preached and practiced the communist line faithfully, who finds himself being labeled a capitalist, also accepts his fate as though in doing so he is furthering a cause larger than himself.
In a way Zhang Yimou's international celebrity and reputation as one of the world's greatest film makers protects him. In another sense his depictions of the sins and excesses of the old regime before communism are so well done and appreciated by all, that such an expression also protects him.
Nonetheless, I do not personally consider this Zhang Yimou's best film. I prefer the startling beauty of Raise the Red Lantern (1991) and Red Sorghum (1987) as well as the charming Not One Less (1999) or the simple but powerful, The Story of Qiu Ju. However, this is an outstanding film.
Notable in a supporting role is Wu Jiang as Wan Erxi the strong young man with the limp who marries the mute daughter. I have seen him in Shower (1999) in which his personal charisma and strength of character are shown more fully. He is the younger brother of Wan Jiang who starred in Zhang Yimou's first film, Red Sorghum. Of course Gong Li, one of the finest actresses of our time, who is often featured in Zhang Yimou's films, is outstanding as always.
Movie Review: Along for the ride "through the valley of death" that was Chinese life under Mao.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Fegui, you choose. Gambling or family?" "I'm not asking much," the wife---Jiazhen---continues, "Only to live a quiet life together." But Master Fugui---marvelously portrayed by the star of this film, Ge You---chooses to be selfish when he has the freedom of choice. Later on, after he loses all, he's a lot more amenable toward playing things safe as he adopts a new tune to sing: Hark, "the ship of revolution! Advance through the storm with Chairman Mao!" Then life becomes a simple odeal to live through as best one can; as we are taken through the Communist Party takeover of mainland China, then through Mao's nonsensical "Great Leap Foward" (when Jiazhen asks the party cadre in charge: "If you take all our pots away how are we to cook?" To which the party hack responds: "We're racing towards Communism, and you worry about food?"---But the recycled metal turned out to be useless for smelting into steel). Common folk are even more adversely affected later during the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" (which was initiated by Mao in 1966). During this time when the family, in need of a doctor, asks in a hospital for one they receive this reply: "The Red Guards [Mao's fanatical followers] are in control! Doctors? "They're all reactionaries, we've overthrown them." And then they all frantically do nothing useful as the patient on the table awaits the help that is sought after elsewhere. "You must bear it, no matter what" Fugui had advised a friend earlier, in not dissimilar circumstances, but such advice was something that he too followed himself; & had to, to survive. Such was life in China under Mao. "Coming out alive wasn't easy" for the family portayed herein, nor for the Chinese people. This is a captivating film & Ge You's fine acting holds it together. It's a snapshot of 3 generations of a Chinese family's struggle "To Live," but it would be more true to characterize this as a struggle "To Survive"---with all the melancholic repercussions associated with such a simple instinct; & is thus a stand-in for the slice of Chinese history that this film represents. Witness this exchange initiated by the local Communist Party cadre concerning Fengui's old house: "It burnt for days. Your timber was first class." "That wasn't ours," Fengui reflexively tries to explain, "it was counter-revolutionary timber;" "Counter-revolutionary timber," he wife then chimes in, for added effect. Cheers!Movie Review: One remarkable film!
Summary: 4 Stars
After watching this last night it's a shame that not more people have seen this movie, judging by the amount of reviews and ratings. Now that director Yimou Zhang ('Hero' & 'House of Flying Daggers') has become more popular, I'm hoping this will change.
'Huozhe' or 'To Live' takes us on a trip in China that will last us from the 40's through the 70's. Through that time, we will see life through eyes Fugui and Jiazhen, a husband and wife with 2 children, as well as Fugui's mother. Others here have called it a Chinese `Gone with the Wind,' but in this respect it's more like a Chinese `Les Misérables,' albeit on a smaller scale. What's most remarkable about it is how it manages to be both a political film and an objective one--it judges the political happenings that serve as its backdrop, yes, but we never get the sense that it is PRE-judging them. `Huozhe' is no propaganda film--it allows its events to unfold organically, and allows us to infer its meaning on our own.
Not once is this movie boring, effectively placing us there, with the family. The acting seems so natural that it feels like you are there, traveling with them, rather then viewing them through a camera. This of course shows the strength of Zhang's directing. You Ge plays Fugui, a popular actor in China, won the award for the Cannes Film Festival. Li Gong is beautiful, and portrays her character with such passion, it's no wonder she has been nominated nearly a dozen times, winning most.
Emotional without being sappy, honest, & historically accurate, the film does have a black shroud covering it. In times of sadness, it's lifted a bit to allow us to see happiness, indeed, life, pull this family together. It even has bits of humor in it, at times, I laughed along with the family as much as I felt their pain. Little details, such paintings in the background that chip away as time goes by, shows how much care went into making this film. Characters that seem unimportant become part of the story later.
What a wonderful film. When I first saw it 12 years ago, it not only changed the way I saw foreign movies, it also changed the way I see life and people. Any movie that can do that is one I highly recommend to anyone.
Movie Review: Stayin' Alive
Summary: 4 Stars
The triumph of Director Zhang Yimou's epic film is how deeply he makes us care about ordinary people buffeted by history and struggling to surmount their own frailty. Fugui (a great performance by Ge You) starts out as a weak, spoiled young man addicted to the roll of the dice. After losing his house, wife Jiazhen (a sensitive turn by Gong Li) and child, Fugui emerges from his self inflicted purgatory vowing to stand by his family. He hits the road to make money as a puppet master, only to get gang pressed into the Kaomintang and later into Mao's Communist army. Released after the civil war, he heads home desperate to slip quietly in to daily life under the new Communist order.
History has a way of imposing itself on people living in ideological societies. This film is so effective because Zhang makes his political points through the particularity of what happens to Fugui and his family. Fugui and Jiazhen's young son bears the brunt of the senseless sacrifices demanded by Mao's Great Leap Forward. What happens to their daughter and her husband brings home the inmates-running-the-asylum feel of the Cultural Revolution. Like Zhang's Not One Less, this film is subversive precisely because it doesn't club you with its social messages. You watch, you feel, and you draw your own conclusions about how the Communist rulers are meeting the needs of the Chinese people.
To Live covers a broad swath of time, from the 1940s to the 70s. The story unfolds with a seemingly effortless flow that reveals Zhang's true artistry. The compositions, whether it's a landlord's palace or a peasant's alley, are perfectly staged. Every actor's gesture serves the larger plot. The pacing propels you through the story but pauses just long enough to let you absorb the big emotional moments. This isn't just a great Chinese film, but a great film by the standards of world cinema, and should not be missed.