To Live

I think it's silly to call Gong Li the greatest actress in China. She's the greatest actor in China, to use the "generic" term. Close collaboration with Zhang Yimou hasn't hurt at all. He provides the scenery to chew on, and she does so. In this film, a family is ripped to shreds every several years. Everyone soldiers on, because that's how life works, but Zhang is not just creating a story of heartbreak, forgiveness and perseverance. He blends in the times, in this case starting with the Chinese revolution and continuing on through the Mao years, and everything that came with them. Even with the family's travails, they never blame anything on the government, only on what they didn't do correctly. But each new tragedy brings with it a hint that with a different governing force, none of it ever would have happened. Those (particular) times are past in China, but his films continue to be banned nationally, while being lauded critically outside his own country. (This particular film has never been legally shown in China.) No big surprise to anyone who's seen just a couple of his films. I, for one, will be lining up to see Hero, his newest film, if only because I'm bemused that he's finally taking on the martial-arts-with-wires genre. Where's the political commentary in that?

original title: Huozhe
year: 1994
length: 125 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110081/combined