According to my observation, the majority of fans who go to the cinema to watch "The Last Emperor" are those born in the 1990s. In stark contrast to other unpopular screenings, there were many aunts from the neighborhood committee who held free tickets. The average age of the audience at the theater that day was no more than 25 years old. As the first Western film to be filmed in New China, when "The Last Emperor" was first released, many audience members were not even born.
In the past, "The Last Emperor" received a lot of criticism in the Chinese newspapers not long after its release, and even after it won the Oscar for best picture, the voice of criticism was even more clamorous. Some opponents hold a moralistic standpoint, believing that the film deliberately caters to Western audiences to peep into the emperor's private life, and filmed erotic scenes such as the emperor, queen, and concubine 3P; some patriots believe that the film beautifies the traitor and traitor Pu Yi; Nationalists, in line with the principle that whatever the West praises is a poisonous weed, have made a comprehensive critique of the film.
Today, although the critics of the year are still alive, the criticism of "The Last Emperor" in the media and newspapers has become less and less, and the evaluation of it is getting closer and closer to its rightful status. This film by Berutuoqi gathered the elites of Eastern and Western films in those years. The script is exquisite, the details are exquisite, the photography and music are all first-class, and it has survived the test of time. More importantly, the director insisted and tried to abandon the influence of politics. With the background of the era of "big changes unseen in three thousand years", he truly restored the image of the last emperor Puyi as a "human". Not maliciously belittling, the characters are genuine and believable. This is why "The Last Emperor" is still loved by audiences after many years.
There is one scene in the film that is quite shocking. In 1967, Puyi underwent labor reform and became an ordinary gardener from the ninety-five-year-old who couldn't take care of himself. One day on the streets of Beijing, he saw a group of rebels marching on the street shouting slogans. Puyi recognized that one of the gangsters was the warden who taught him. He ran over to argue with the Red Guards, but was pushed to the ground by the Red Guards saying "Fuck you." This scene lasted for more than 10 minutes. In addition to the tall leader statue, the red flag waving in the sky, and the deafening loudspeaker, it also faithfully reproduced the scene of the Red Guards dancing the Loyalty Character Dance and singing the "Revolutionary Rebellion Song".
Not to mention the superb scheduling ability demonstrated by Berutuoqi, this scene is almost the only scene of the Cultural Revolution parade shown on the big screen in China. It is real, calm, cruel and cruel. It appeared in "The Last Emperor" filmed in the 1980s. Since the authorities banned filming of such subjects and avoided discussing the decade of history in the mainstream media, it will be difficult for audiences to see scenes like this directly attacking the Cultural Revolution parade on the screen in the future.
The swordsmen who criticized "The Last Emperor" many years ago did not criticize this scene. They are too close to that period of history, the memory is vivid and undeniable, they just want to forget quickly. So when criticizing the big poisonous weed, this scene was selectively ignored. For most of the young post-90s audience sitting in the theater, the Cultural Revolution is just a history that has been skipped over and that the older generation dared not mention it. When this scene appeared, the loudest laughter broke out in the theater in more than 100 minutes.
Thanks to the government's deliberate avoidance, the younger generation about the Cultural Revolution is as unfamiliar as foreign audiences, so when they see the absurd slogans and crazy personality cults in the movie, they can't help but laugh when they see the funny dances and blind slogans, He opened his mouth to sneer freely. In this dimension, the younger generation of fans is closer to the same generation of global citizens, and further away from their parents.
"Look, how ridiculous!" Yes, thanks to Berutocchi, who left us with a ridiculous profile.
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