Chinese film

Posted: November 30th, 2013

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Chinese film

Topic 1

            ”Crows and Sparrows” is a Shanghai film industry movie directed by Zheng Junli. Most of its viewers consider it an excellent movie in the history of the china cinema. This movie was released in 1949 after the civil war between the Kuomintang and the communist party. ”Crows and Sparrows” has an excellent ideological content. This is because it successfully portrayed the systems in the Chinese movies during that time. This movie features many ethical issues. It is about the conflict between the Shanghai lane residents and their property owner, Hou Yibo. The theme of corruption is portrayed in the movie when Hou, who is a powerful and corrupt official, seizes a house from its owner. Hou Intends to sell the house before the residents prevent him. This movie also features the best group of actors. Zhao Dan, the best and popular actors of the time, is featured (Berry, 20).

As the residents try to keep themselves from being evicted, they also experience political turmoil. This is portrayed when two colleagues of Hua Haozhi, one of the residents, are arrested for political reasons. However, Hua shies away from signing a petition against their illegal detention. He only does this when he gets the support of other teachers. In addition, this movie also gives the police a brutal image. This is portrayed when Hua’s wife goes to the police station to look for her arrested husband. The police talks to her in a hostile and cruel manner. Despite the scene being short, the viewers find it terrifying. This is because the police have a lot of power that they exercise on the citizens without compromise. In addition, this movie portrays the society as one whose rights are limited. This is because the lawyer could not help Mrs. Hue when her husband was arrested. He tells her that the lawyers do not handle such cases (Berry, 22).

Topic 2

“Stage Sisters” is a pleasing and influential Chinese film. It has been directed by Xie Jin. The time of its production is one of the factors that make it important. This is because it was completed during the Cultural Revolution. This film is about a widow, Chunhua, who escapes because her sisters-in-law intend to sell her. This film involves the use of traditional story telling, familiar characters and setting. This is achieved when it focuses its story line on two women from different backgrounds. These two women meet and work in an opera troupe. This enables Chinese audience to develop an interest on the movie. This film also succeeds in portraying drama when a conflict arises after the death of Master Xing. Conflict is also featured when Master Xing protects his daughter from a wealthy man who intends to force one of the girls to spend the night with him (Kuoshu, 88)

In addition to this, Chunhua also hits a police officer. These conflict instances portray the culture in the movie as an old-fashioned one that should be replaced by a progressive one. However, when the two girls move to Shanghai, the film portrays the capitalism concept. When Yuehong marries Tang, she becomes wealthy and boasts of her wealth to the actors. This succeeds in warning people against capitalism since it is one of the main causes of corruption. However, the film only succeeds in portraying communism as being opposed by the nationalists and the capitalists. As Chunhua decides to support the communist way, he is arrested due to the support he gets from people. He is later released by the liberation of communism. Despite this, the film does not succeed in portraying the advantages of communism. However, the film becomes more centered on the political aspects (Lin & Jin, 56).

Works cited

Berry, Chris. Chinese Films in Focus: 25 New Takes. London: BFI Pub, 2003. Print.

Berry, Chris. Chinese Films in Focus Ii. Basingstoke, Hampshire [England: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.

Kuoshu, Harry H. Celluloid China: Cinematic Encounters with Culture and Society. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002. Print.

Lin, Gu, Jin Xie, and Jin Xu. Two Stage Sisters. , 2003. Print.