A lot has been said, both positive and negative, about the main Asian roles played by Caucasian actors in this film. As an Asian of Chinese descent myself, I've learnt not to get too bent up over this, especially when one considers when this movie was made.
I just recently got the DVD and watched it for the second time after a gap of more than 20 years and I still see the magic of the movie and why it remains inspiring. There are, of course, quite a few creative licenses taken at the expense of the actual life of Gladys Aylward (which IMHO is actually much more inspiring) but that is to be expected with cinema.
What surprised me even more was that Robert Donat who played the Mandarin (the literal translation of his title in the movie would be County Governor; ie. Hsien Chang or 縣長) actually spoke better Mandarin than Peter Chong who played Yang the cook who I assume isn't a native Mandarin speaker.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt the same awe and emotions as when I first saw it as a young boy.
I just recently got the DVD and watched it for the second time after a gap of more than 20 years and I still see the magic of the movie and why it remains inspiring. There are, of course, quite a few creative licenses taken at the expense of the actual life of Gladys Aylward (which IMHO is actually much more inspiring) but that is to be expected with cinema.
What surprised me even more was that Robert Donat who played the Mandarin (the literal translation of his title in the movie would be County Governor; ie. Hsien Chang or 縣長) actually spoke better Mandarin than Peter Chong who played Yang the cook who I assume isn't a native Mandarin speaker.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt the same awe and emotions as when I first saw it as a young boy.