Thanks to Qantas' great in-flight entertainment programme, I was able to watch a very good Australian film entitled "Mao's Last Dancer." I watched it not because of the ballet (which does not really interest me that much), but more about the Cultural Revolution in China which the title seems to suggest.
The story tells the true-to-life experience of a a boy Li Cunxin, born sixth in a poor peasant family with seven sons. He was picked out by the powers that be from a provincial school to train as a ballet dancer in Beijing in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, a visiting American choreographer from Houston noted Li's talent and brought him to the USA to dance, where Li gained fame as a premiere danseur in the short time he was there.
After experiencing first-hand the differences between the living and cultural differences of China and America, Li was faced with a monumental dilemma. Should he return to the motherland to which he had always been taught to be loyal? Or should he remain in his newly found land of freedom and home of the girl he loved?
I really liked the scenes depicting the scenes set in China, rather than those set in the USA. The culture in the community, the filial piety, the rigorous training, the clash of art and politics, even the scene with Madame Mao, were very revealing and touching. Li's conversations with the Chinese consul to the USA were also very interesting.
Chi Cao, who played the adult Li, is a very good dancer, more than he was an actor, but that was quite understandable. He ended his performance of a ballet solo (in "Don Quixote") with such a passionate flourish -- that, for me, was the best dance scene, and Cao's best acting moment in the whole film. I don't know why it was, but every time Li's mother (lovingly played by Joan Chen) appeared on the screen, my eyes would cloud up (which was not too easy to hide in a packed plane, haha!)
Overall, I liked the film. Director Bruce Beresford went a little too melodramatic, but that's fine for me. I do note that most films about that time in China's history would tend to some emotional melodrama. Li's difficult decision makes a riveting conflict, but unfortunately, that part was handled with a rather rushed and simplistic manner, and with a point-of-view that might be biased.
The story tells the true-to-life experience of a a boy Li Cunxin, born sixth in a poor peasant family with seven sons. He was picked out by the powers that be from a provincial school to train as a ballet dancer in Beijing in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, a visiting American choreographer from Houston noted Li's talent and brought him to the USA to dance, where Li gained fame as a premiere danseur in the short time he was there.
After experiencing first-hand the differences between the living and cultural differences of China and America, Li was faced with a monumental dilemma. Should he return to the motherland to which he had always been taught to be loyal? Or should he remain in his newly found land of freedom and home of the girl he loved?
I really liked the scenes depicting the scenes set in China, rather than those set in the USA. The culture in the community, the filial piety, the rigorous training, the clash of art and politics, even the scene with Madame Mao, were very revealing and touching. Li's conversations with the Chinese consul to the USA were also very interesting.
Chi Cao, who played the adult Li, is a very good dancer, more than he was an actor, but that was quite understandable. He ended his performance of a ballet solo (in "Don Quixote") with such a passionate flourish -- that, for me, was the best dance scene, and Cao's best acting moment in the whole film. I don't know why it was, but every time Li's mother (lovingly played by Joan Chen) appeared on the screen, my eyes would cloud up (which was not too easy to hide in a packed plane, haha!)
Overall, I liked the film. Director Bruce Beresford went a little too melodramatic, but that's fine for me. I do note that most films about that time in China's history would tend to some emotional melodrama. Li's difficult decision makes a riveting conflict, but unfortunately, that part was handled with a rather rushed and simplistic manner, and with a point-of-view that might be biased.