This visually gorgeous, beautifully framed film actually titled "My Father and My Mother" is, in addition to being a simple story of a great love fulfilled, a modest, indirect political document. Most of the people reviewing it seem to set it in "ancient" China when, in fact, it is set in the time of Chairman Mao's devastating Cultural Revolution.
The love story between a simple illiterate village girl and the young man sent to teach the children of her village is played out patiently and gently. The rich colors and framing keep the eye involved and would have been straight-forwardly sweet, like honey in the hive, but for the stinging bees of the Cultural Revolution who call the young teacher back to the city for disciplining and then don't let him return until.....
Given that Zhang YiMou couldn't produce a film directly critical of the Chairman and his blood thirsty hordes, he's stated the criticism laterally, by implication, and beautifully.
I'm giving it 9 stars, which is just a little generous, but not much.
The love story between a simple illiterate village girl and the young man sent to teach the children of her village is played out patiently and gently. The rich colors and framing keep the eye involved and would have been straight-forwardly sweet, like honey in the hive, but for the stinging bees of the Cultural Revolution who call the young teacher back to the city for disciplining and then don't let him return until.....
Given that Zhang YiMou couldn't produce a film directly critical of the Chairman and his blood thirsty hordes, he's stated the criticism laterally, by implication, and beautifully.
I'm giving it 9 stars, which is just a little generous, but not much.