Huo Zhe (To Live)
This film was brilliant. Just brilliant. I don’t really know what to say about the movie especially since I didn’t know anything about it before. I was even more surprised to see that my parents have loved it as well and that my father is a fan of Zhang Yimou… somehow I always have expected Zhang Yimou to be the “movies for the western world” kind of director, but that’s only half of the truth. “To Live” is a masterpiece of chinese culture, going through the most dramatic times of chinese history. My parents have always said that every generation has go to through some hardships – for our grandparents it was the wars, for them it was the cultural revolution… and since I was small, I feared a WW3 or something equally devastating so I promised myself I would become strong-hearted. *hrr* Pretty stupid, I know, but without purpose, my parents’ education have accidentally made me very sensitive about war, the cultural revolution and other humanitary catastrophes. I also am the kind of person who starts to cry when I see books burning and the thought of doctors and teachers to be tortured is one of the most depressing possible, considering the nature of their profession (health and education are the most important things for a man after all!) and the huge amount of work they had to put into forming their skills. To me, it’s not the holocaust, it’s the cultural revolution in China that is the worst thing humanity has ever brought out; besides my strong opinion about war being the worst thing that can happen to you. I’m not exaggerating.
Back to the movie, it’s just SO chinese. And the fact that it was banned adds up to it. It’s not the characters (Ge You is more than brilliant!) and not only the touching story, it’s the message behind it that makes it so chinese. Of course the whole story is about life, but it especially is about how you have to continue living no matter what happens. If China has survived until now and has brought it so far, it’s not only because it’s a bunch of smart merchants, but also because they are traditionally raised to be able to overcome hardships and support difficulties. It’s probably considered the most important virtue, and this is so presented in such a touching, beautiful way in this movie. Aaah, how much I love it! I was lucky that I only saw good movies since I came to Berlin (or at least as good as I expected), but this movie’s brilliance tops it all. No matter how interesting and important movies or sex or relationships or politics are, this movie really is about life and that stands over everything.
I’m sorry for ranting so much and not having said anything really substantial about the movie itself (besides the fact that with this, I have finally acknowledged Gong Li as a good actress and not just some nice face), nothing about the most touching and funny scenes, and nothing about how happy I am that I can speak chinese so I could get all the small linguistic nuances of the dialogue.
Your ranting is interesting, so just continue doing it, you know. XD
Like I already said, I also think that I had the feeling that this movie is typically Chinese, although I of course don’t have a tiny spark of the knowledge you have about China. And the story spans these decades in such an emotional and thrilling way that one can’t help but love it.