History through Fiction in the Film To Live - Movie Review Example

History through Fiction in the Film To Live To Live is a movie which cannot let people stay indifferent. It was created in 1994 by Zhang Yimou to cover the period of rapid Chinese transformation from old feudal state to new Communist society. Fugui and his family stand in the middle of the story; changes are dramatic and all people have to sacrifice something for the common good. Combination of macro- and micro-history makes this film extremely informative; through Fugui’s family one can see how the whole society transforms because of its internal changes of power, values and progress. This story shows that everything has its price except of human life, which is invaluable. The script of the movie is intentionally divided into several distinct parts which cover different periods of time. There are 4 decades represented in the movie. The 40-s are characterized by the civil war and revolution in China. They are changed by the 50-s and building communist industrial China. Cultural Revolution enters the country in 1960-s. The end of the movie covers a period after all these events. All these historical events are showed with the help of fiction story integrated in the narrative. It is a story of Fugui, a former landowner and a person who has to live. The story begins in 1940-s, which Chinese civil war unexpectedly changes lives of all people in the state. Fugui has already lost everything; his addiction to bargaining ruined his family and left his without a tile above his head. He manages to cope with poverty and his hard work brings his wife Jiazhen back to him. He is again inspired to live; he wants to ask for credit from the landowner who won his family mansion, but he gets a set of shadow puppets instead. The war enters his life accidentally; during one of the performances of his shadow puppet theater, the knife stubs the curtain and all actors are taken to the nationalist army. Fugui is adaptable to any change in his life; he happens to entertain people in the army by his performances. Eventually he misses the major attack and finds out that nationalists have been killed; only he and his puppet theater partner Chunsheng survive. They try to run away, but the Red Army catches them. They entertain people here again and get back homes alive. On the battlefield, Fugui says the most important words: “I want to live. There is nothing like family”. Having survived the war, Fugui’s family has a new challenge – to survive the building of Communism. They become very poor; his wife delivers boiled water to people to earn for living. Their daughter Fengxia becomes mute and half-deaf after fever. Fugui’s son is a promising little kid, who protects his sister from bullies. They are poor, but they are together and they have to believe in better future promised by their leader Mao. In order to “liberate Taiwan and win the USA”, people have to give away all iron utensils they had to produce steel. Here, Fugui’s puppets are discovered again, and he becomes the center of community fun. All people work hard to produce steel; even children are involved to work day and night. Bad news arrives to Fugui’s house; his son is killed. He was tired after 3 nights without sleep and hid behind the wall to have some rest; the District commander crushed that wall with his jeep and killed the boy. Fugui recognizes that it is Chunsheng, his old friend, who becomes his enemy in a second. The family refuses to accept money or any help from him; he owes them his life. This is how Fugui loses only son. Fengxia’s fate seems to be better; he is married to Wan Erxi, who is a lame supervisor at a local plan. She is pregnant and the child will be born soon. The family goes to the hospital but discovers that there are no doctors. Given birth to a child Fengxia dies because of extensive blood loss. Students do not know what to do with her. A professor, who was delivered by Wan Erxi, ate too many buns because of starvation and almost fainted. He was another victim of the system because he was considered to the representative of old regime. The same happens to local head of the town Mr. Niu, Chunsheng and all other people who were either richer than others or more educated. This tragic story of a family lays the emphasis on macro-history as a cause of all misfortunes. In order to build a new state, China is depicted to be ready to pay people’s lives for its future success. Children and adults have to work hard to make the system work. They are extensively inspired by propaganda called “The Cultural revolution”. However, this term does not mean culture; it is used to create a cult of personality on a new Chinese leader. Pictures, posters, books and quotes of Mao are everywhere. Even marriage traditions are modified to military-style communist communities in order to erase any track of “old times”. Shadow puppets of Fugui, which kept people together in hardships, have to accept the same fate. They have no place in new community. They are beauties, feudalists and emperors, who burn in Fugui’s backyard. They show that there is no place for old values in new community. People had to destroy the past in order to have prosperous future. Close focus of the story of one family let people see the broader perspective of the issue. The film shows both the passage of time and changes in human life. Building communist state, people have to clean all reminders of the past and sacrifice their personal interests for the sake of their state. Unfortunately, a single family is not a huge concern for the state with so many people. At the same time, losses and despair makes Fugui disbelieve in communism as a right choice for their country. At the end of the movie, he and his wife does not believe in optimistic happy future promised to them. They learn to live today and now because tomorrow is not always happy. Fugui is a prototype of an everyman of his epoch. Poor, working class representative with family, children and great desire to find his place under the sun. The same can be said about Jiazhen, who works hard to contribute at least something to her family and is very unhappy with the fact that her children do not have childhood as it should be. This fiction story is integrated in history of China in order to personalize it and to give it a face. It keeps everything alive and shows how all changes with a community influence its members. Fugui and Jiazhen are two people who have to be flexible enough to fit the changing and dangerous environment around them. They call for emotional response to the history, civil war and new regime. They call for better life and people become compassionate to them. Family story in the focus of narration add meaning to all historic events. They are not perceived at a huge distance; they are followed by people’s response, expectations and beliefs. This human factor in history narration has a decisive role; it makes this history understandable and clear to diverse audience. Family unit in the focus is also necessary to eliminate Chinese cultural peculiarities which can be strange for people who are not familiar with Chinese culture. Family shows how people learn to live in new Communist culture, what they want to have in their lives, how they communicate and how they survive. History seems to be on the background, but it is represented in every event which happens to main characters. They are separated bring the war, people they know are arrested and killed as landowners. There are no doctors because all of them are considered to be enemies of the regime. New society is run by young inexperienced people who are taught to praise ideology more than human lives. Fiction and non-fiction merge together to deliver this complicated story of Chinese people to diverse audience and make it clear. Everywhere in the world people want to live and they praise their lives as values; however, in some cases they live through very difficult times. Summing up, in this movie fiction and non-fiction work together to render the truth and make people feel it. People can objective when they read the fact or see documentaries with distant battlefields and unknown soldiers. The movie offers a perspective where people influenced by the events become familiar and close to the audience. The integration history and its influence on people allow understanding all people in China who lived in those difficult times. The structure of the narrative and division into part makes it easier for perception and understanding as it remains tied to reality. Works Cited Yimou, Zhang. To Live. Perf. Ge You, Gong Li, Niu Ben, Guo Tao. ERA International & Shanghai Film Studios. 1994. Film. Read More