The Reflection of the Historical Events in the To Live (1994) - Movie Review Example

The reflection of the historical events in the movie To Live (1994) To Live is a movie created by famous Chinese producer Zhang Yimou in 1994. The movie is based on the plot of the book written by Yu Hua. Perfectly reflecting historical events, the movie, gained a great success in the international arena. However, in China the movie was banned due to the too critical reflection of the real events, which happened in China during the so-called Cultural Revolution (Yimou and Gateward, 2001). The movie tells us about the life of a man Xu Fugui and his family. Initially he grown up in the rich family, thus turned into a gambler who finally lost all his property. However, watching the movie, it is difficult to say if this fact destroyed him or helped him survive. The trouble is that in the conditions of so-called “cultural revolution” it was really impossible “to live”. It is essential to overview the historical facts in order to understand the plot of the movie. The Great Proletarian Cultural revolution in China represented a series of ideological and political campaigns of 1966—1976, which were organized and supervised by the chairman Mao Zedong. The main goal of Chairman Mao was to discredit and abolish political opposition and set up the regime of his own absolute power under the pretext of the possible “restoration of capitalism” in the Republic of China and “the struggle with internal and foreign revisionism”. According to the Chinese historians, the main reasons of “cultural revolution” were the following: 1) absolutization of the role of class struggle by Mao Zedong; 2) the cult of Mao Zedong’s personality that reached its peak in 1966—1976; 3) the struggle for the leadership in the party, active use of the mistaken views of Mao, the cult of his personality and his style by the heads of the Party in order to strengthen their power. “Cultural revolution” led to the wide-ranging repressions against intelligentsia, the destruction of Communist Party, social organizations, as well as to the great damage of culture and education, destruction of cultural monuments under the pretext of the struggle with the feudal principles and traditions, the changes in foreign policy, rapid expansion of the anti-Soviet ideology in the country. The system of state control was actually abolished. The law-enforcement and judicial system were inactive, thus hongweìbing and zàofăn, the groups or rather bands which were actually implementing the Cultural Revolution, were free to act in their own way. Certainly, this led to chaos. At the beginning hongweìbing acted under the control of Mao and his people. There were many careerists among them and they managed to make a fast career. They were going ahead without remorse accusing their teachers in “counter-revolutionary revisionism” and their “comrade-in-arms” in the insufficient revolutionary character. Many of them grew up in unhappy families. Uneducated and cruel, they became the perfect tools in the hands of Mao. However, at the same time, among the strugglers there were many intellectuals. Later the Hongweìbing were divided into two groups according to their origin. The first group included those who grew up in the families of intellectuals and the members of the Party and the second included the descendants of working class. There was an uncompromising struggle between the two groups. They followed the same rules, but interpreted them differently. After the confrontation of the two bands a murderer could say that it was “mutual assistance”, a thief, who stolen bricks from the plant justified himself stating that “revolutionary class should reach its goals”. Mao’s control over the executors of Cultural Revolution was becoming weaker, but the main directions of the chaos development remained under his control. Mao had to interfere in the struggle when hongweìbing became too cruel. Even in the small villages there was a war between “the North and the South of the village”. In 1967 900 people were killed in the confrontation of two bands. They were killed with an awful cruelty. In autumn of 1967 Mao used the armed forces against hongweìbing, which he called “incompetent” and “politically immature”. Sometimes the army faced the opposition of hongweìbing. Mao threatened that if hongweìbing struggled with the army, killed the people, destroyed transport, they will be killed. The groups of hongweìbing broke apart. The five heads of hongweìbing groups were sent to work at a pig farm in province. Several heads were sentenced to death. Many young people were sent to the distant regions and spent there ten years. The movie To Live helps us see the historical event from another side. We have a chance to understand the events deeply on the example of the life of real people. The producer showed all the horror of the events, which happened in China in 1966—1976. The title of the Chinese film is pretty simple and consists only of one word “to live”. It seems that film with such ordinary name cannot have sophisticated plot or idea but this was a stereotype. Actually, the whole sense is hidden in the four letters. The film depicts the time period from 1940 till 1960. In the center of the events is a family, which has experienced the precipitate moments of gambling and the ascetic difficulties of the Cultural Revolution. It seems that the main heroine went through all the troubles, uneasy fate, complicated obstacles, both cultural and political. During these hard times she stays without the dearest she has, without her children. The wealth and position also is far in the past. She has only one dream to unite with her family and take pleasure from peaceful life. Xhang Yimou, the director of this movie is a prominent filmmaker in China. The interesting fact is that this film brings him prohibition for 2 years for his filmmaking activities as it vexed the Beijing. His wife Gong LI, a famous actress, who played the main role in this film got the same prohibition. The couple has created several films, which are very popular as well. Commonly, they depict the story and destiny of a strong woman, but in the “To Live” a strong man and troubles that he experiences are depicted (James, 1994). The troubles in the family start with the gambling, when Fugui manages to lose his house. His wife is the personification of wisdom in the situation and does not demand anything from his husband. He starts selling needles and threads in order to avoid the destitution. The person who has become the owner of their house provides the man with a number of amazing shadow puppets. From this moment he entertains the people in the streets and then the soldiers of the National army. One morning the situation changes completely. He had to become a part of Red army, and only this helps him find the way to his home and beloved family. The life of the family was full of troubles. Despite all the difficulties, they had enough power and will to stay alive in the just coming communist regime. The interesting fact is that the person, who has become the owner of the house was killed for been counter revolutionist. The next trouble the family faces refers to the daughter, who has become mute due to the disease. However, the life continued and at the end of the film the producer introduced a famous phrase: "and life will get better and better". The heroes of the movie managed to overcome all the difficulties they faced during the long and difficult period of so-called “cultural revolution”. During ten years people lived without any definite political regime, and in absolute lawlessness. Nobody could defend families and their property. Many people do not even think about their wealth, the main goal was “to live, “to survive”. The power was controlled not by the government, which stayed aside, but by the bands, by the cruel killers. The question may arise how this can happen in the respected country. Only one answer can be provided: The Great Revolution. If to turn to the world history, it is possible to see that revolutions serve as the perfect opportunity for uneducated and cruel people to get high positions and property. The sources of their wealth are those who earned their money honestly. Revolution provided them with the perfect chance to rob intellectuals and nobles under the pretext of “revolutionary politics” and “fair ideas”. In order to prove this fact it is enough to turn to the history of Russia and its Great Revolution in October of 1917. The situation was the same: the society suffered from mobs, who always used the chaotic situations and unlawfulness, which are so typical for the revolutionary period, for their own benefit. The consequences of such situations were horrible: many people were severely killed and their families destroyed. Their children died from the hard work and starvation. Such situation we can trace in the movie To Live: two children of the main hero had to work hard. However, the question is what would have happened, if he had not lost his property. His possible destiny was reflected in the destiny of the man whom he lost his property to. Mobs tried to force him to give his property to them. He refused and was executed as the result. This testifies that during this period it was not clear if it is better to be rich or poor. There was an interesting paradox: if you are poor, you will die from starvation and if you are from the rich family, you will be severely punished for that. Xu Fugui tried to calm down his wife by telling her “we are not nobles and we will not be killed” (Hua, 2003). The only way out was to join bands and become a killer. Those who did not want this, suffered for severe terror. The movie “To Live” shows us the struggle of the people who want to survive in the conditions, in which everybody is suffering no matter what class of society they may belong to. They managed to do that, but the price they paid was too high. For the director and the leading character this film has become a trial as they have not only got 2 years ban for their activity but they even had no right to speak about it. Nevertheless, this film has gained a great success in the international arena. It is like a symbol who told people the truth about what was really happening in China in 1966—1976 and how people suffered from it. The film has enormous energy; it is very strong in terms of the plot and portraying the events. The director will for sure be engraved in the history of Chinese filmmaking. He depicts not only the political regimes but the ordinary people and their sophisticated life as well as their strengths and wish to live. Works Cited Hua, Yu. Editor: Michael Berry. To Live. Random House Digital, Inc., 2003 Yimou, Zhang, Gateward, Frances K., Yimou Zhang, University Press of Mississippi, 2001, pp. 63-4 James, Caryn. "Film Review; Zhang Yimous To Live". The New York Times ,. 1994. Read More