To Live (B+ or 3/4 stars)
Gong Li stars in 'To Live' a spirited political melodrama directed by the great Zhang Yimou; the sprawling 2 hour+ film covers the affairs of one Chinese family from the 1940s through the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. In the 1940s, Xu Fugui (Ge You) is the son of a rich merchant who gambles away the family fortune & loses the family mansion at the local casino to a puppeteer. Fugui's father dies from a heart attack after acknowledging the debt and, his lovely wife, Jiazhen (Gong Li), becomes a lowly beggar with her young daughter Fengxia, & baby son, Youqing.
The family thankfully reunites when Fugui swears-off his gambling ways & takes-up being a puppeteer in travelling shows. This vast movie covers: 1) how Fugui got all caught up in the terrible civil war btwn. Chiang Kai-Shek's nationalists & the winning Mao Zedong's communists. 2) Surviving the terrors & then tragedy of the battlefield. 3) Returning back home to learn that his impoverished daughter has lost her voice. 4) That the whole family has to learn to survive against the harshness of the new Communist regime. 5) Dealing with the brutality of Mao's Great Leap Forward {in the 1950's}. And 6) The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.
As in 1992'sRaise the Red Lantern & 1993's The Story of Qiu Ju {where I would nominate Gong Li for Best Actress}, Zhang Yimou painstakingly presents a sobering view of Chinese life where the fates of individuals are determined by forces far beyond their control. He shows how the family is caught in the clutches of a repressive government but, at the same time, not caring a lick about politics, and yet remaining hopeful because they merely want ... 'to live'. Despite the political changes, upheavals, bureaucratic incompetencies, strange twists, & some truly tragic losses -- the family here remains resolved to unite, fight, hope, & to persevere.
Now, the film DOES rush through some of the history. That said, we wouldn't want this film to go on for 3 hours now, would we? Zhang Yimou is economical in his direction & storytelling to prevent all of that bloat that epics tend to go for. I also wouldn't say that the film engages our emotions in the way that Zhang may have wanted. I WAS moved. But being 'swept away' by this movie is something that will vary depending on the viewer. Any other nitpicks might include a contrived scene or two here or there. But overall, I was mighty impressed with 'To Live'. It is very well-crafted, exceedingly well-acted {Gong Li can do no wrong, for me}, and I really admire how Zhang Yimou evokes an optimistic spirit, even in the face of such adversity & political turmoil.
The family thankfully reunites when Fugui swears-off his gambling ways & takes-up being a puppeteer in travelling shows. This vast movie covers: 1) how Fugui got all caught up in the terrible civil war btwn. Chiang Kai-Shek's nationalists & the winning Mao Zedong's communists. 2) Surviving the terrors & then tragedy of the battlefield. 3) Returning back home to learn that his impoverished daughter has lost her voice. 4) That the whole family has to learn to survive against the harshness of the new Communist regime. 5) Dealing with the brutality of Mao's Great Leap Forward {in the 1950's}. And 6) The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.
As in 1992'sRaise the Red Lantern & 1993's The Story of Qiu Ju {where I would nominate Gong Li for Best Actress}, Zhang Yimou painstakingly presents a sobering view of Chinese life where the fates of individuals are determined by forces far beyond their control. He shows how the family is caught in the clutches of a repressive government but, at the same time, not caring a lick about politics, and yet remaining hopeful because they merely want ... 'to live'. Despite the political changes, upheavals, bureaucratic incompetencies, strange twists, & some truly tragic losses -- the family here remains resolved to unite, fight, hope, & to persevere.
Now, the film DOES rush through some of the history. That said, we wouldn't want this film to go on for 3 hours now, would we? Zhang Yimou is economical in his direction & storytelling to prevent all of that bloat that epics tend to go for. I also wouldn't say that the film engages our emotions in the way that Zhang may have wanted. I WAS moved. But being 'swept away' by this movie is something that will vary depending on the viewer. Any other nitpicks might include a contrived scene or two here or there. But overall, I was mighty impressed with 'To Live'. It is very well-crafted, exceedingly well-acted {Gong Li can do no wrong, for me}, and I really admire how Zhang Yimou evokes an optimistic spirit, even in the face of such adversity & political turmoil.