Movie Review

[Anonymous]

Okay, so I am on mission to find a movie for the class. I watched half of Samurai Rebellion and wouldn't show this to the class. Lady Ichin was dismissed from the castle because she "incurred her Lords displeasure" and was dismissed after she bore the Lords son. There as a scene where he slapped a girl in the face and dragged her by the hair. Are there any definite "G" rated movies for classroom use?

[Anonymous]

I watched the 2.5 hour international version of John Woo's Red Cliff, and loved the movie on many levels. Rumored to be the most expensive movie ever produced in mainland China, the original Chinese version is said to be over 5 hours long. Set in 208 AD, the movie is a sweeping epic that shows one of the most famous battles in Chinese history - between a power mad general Cao Cao and an uneasy alliance between two warring clans. The movie was adapted from the Chinese novel, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century. This historical novel is based on the turbulent years at the end of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, starting in 169 and ending in the reunification of the land in 280 AD.

The movie focuses on the important Battle of Red Cliffs. On one side is the 800,000 amassed troops of Cao Cao, a prime minister busy manipulating the young weak Han emperor. On the other side is the combined armies of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, two emergent leaders to the south. Together, Sun Quan and Liu Bei lead a fraction of the men at Cao Cao's command. But they don't have nearly as many weapons as Cao Cao. When the prime minister's forces encamp across from Sun Quan and Liu Bei's on the Yangtze River, the sheer mass of Cao Cao's army is chilling.

This setup has us rooting for the underdogs: The good guys may be outgunned (or out-catapulted), but they're far from outwitted, as they have a canny young strategist outsmarting the sheer mass of Cao Cao's army.

Like the movie Hero, there is a strong correlation between dance, calligraphy, music and strategies of battle. The strong suit of "Red Cliff" is the way it puzzles out the tactics behind the Battle of Red Cliffs: the power of nature, love and war. It also gives some insight into the cyclical nature of the way the Chinese view history - divided clans uniting, dividing and uniting again. There were strong themes that reminded me of Sun Tzu's Art of War which is assigned to most business school undergraduates.

There is ample footage to use in classrooms to show innovations in warfare and weaponry and shipbuilding as well. The invention of paper in 105AD by the Han Dynasty is shown through some beautiful scenes of calligraphy, and uses of paper. The movie shows the prosperity of the Han dynasty and emergence of a money economy. The invention of nautical steering rudder and it's contribution to warships can also be seen in the movie. The movie is a visual work of art, full of epic scenery - while imparting important lessons in history.
edited by agreenberg on 8/21/2011

[Anonymous]

See the attached document.
edited by dlau on 8/29/2011

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[Anonymous]

Last Emperor Movie Review - 3rd time is not the charm!
This is the third movie I watched in an effort to find one with useable components in a classroom lesson. Unfortunately, there are way too many inappropriate scenes. This is a rated “R” movie. The cover mentions that this is a true story of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, the last ruler of the Chinese Ching Dynasty. It takes place from 1908 to 1967. I’m not sure how much of this movie is true as the cover states.

The movie starts with a young three year old boy that is named Emperor. He goes to live in the Forbidden City. He leads a sheltered life, never allowed to leave the Forbidden City. There are inappropriate scenes where he feeds from a wet nurse when he’s at least 8 years of age. In another scene he wants to prove he’s an emperor to his little brother, that he just met for the first time, by asking one of the overseers to drink the green the ink from the pen well. When he’s a few years older, he has an interesting conversation with a Scottish tutor that was hired to teach him things. The Emperor asked the tutor where his skirt was. The tutor replied that it was a kilt, “…which is a matter of words, but words are important because a gentlemen should say what he means and mean what he says.” Then, the emperor agrees and says that he himself is not a gentleman because they always tell him what to say.

The story flashes back and forth between different periods in his life. I found it hard to follow at times. Later in the story he is accused of being a traitor and a Revolutionary. I’m a bit confused as to what happened. I think he wanted unity between China and Japan and the world eventually, but China’s leaders wanted complete control of Asia. He was put in jail at one point. More inappropriate comments took place where he received tips on how to urinate without waking other prisoners. There were scenes depicting his wife as an opium addict. Overall, I would definitely not recommend this for class use since there are so many inappropriate scenes.
edited by ccable on 8/30/2011
edited by ccable on 8/30/2011

[Anonymous]

I watched The Last Emperor starring John Lone and Peter O'Toole. The movie claims to be the true story of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi (Jon Lone) or Henry Pu-yi, the last emperor of the Qing dynasty. The setting spans the years from 1908 to 1967 when Pu Yi died and takes place in 20th century China. The story is told in flash-backs. Because of this technique and my ignorance of modern Chinese history, I found it difficult to follow the plot of the movie. Just before her death, the "bulldog" Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsui proclaims the three-year old Pu Yi to be the new emperor. The young boy is forced to leave his mother, to be raised by the wet nurse and a multitude of eunuchs in the Forbidden City. He learns that he can do anything he chooses, except return home to his immediate family. By 1919, China is in turmoil. Pu Yi leads a very protected life inside the walls of the Forbidden City and is educated by a British tutor, an older gentleman named Reginald Johnston (Peter O'Toole). As "emperor", Pu Yi really does not have any power as China has become a republic. He so much wants to escape, but he is a prisoner inside his own palace. He marries two beautiful, young Chinese women, who along with their emperor husband, become very westernized. With the Japanese gaining power in northern China (Manchuria), Pu Yi becomes a "puppet emperor" for the Japanese. Planning to leave and move to the western world (San Francisco, he hoped), he is taken prisoner when Communism takes over (here, my lack of knowledge gets me lost) and he does not want to succumb. He still had hopes of ruling Manchuria. Somewhere in there, his first wife becomes addicted to opium as many did apparently, and his second wife wanting a divorce and a westernized lifestyle leaves. Pu Yi ends up spending about a decade in jail, and upon his release, he lives a life tending his plants and trying to manage in a Communist world.

This movie made me feel very sad for a toddler, child, and young man who was groomed to rule, but never really did. He had ideas for reform, he had ethics and values, and he was loyal to Manchuria. Yet he was never able to carry out his ideals and wishes for his land and people. I found the pomp and circumstance, the rituals and ceremonies amazing. In spite of the strife outside the walls of the Forbidden City, the imperial family lived in luxury. Centuries-old customs continued.

As far as using this movie in my classroom, there are clips I might show, such as the crowning of three-year old Pu Yi. Or I could show the military and religious officials lined up in the immense courtyard of the Forbidden City. Other than that, the Qing dynasty is the end of the curriculum in the 7th grade with only the mention of it in a few sentences. The bare breast of the wet nurse with a 10-year old emperor nursing, the two women together under the influence of opium, and a few other explicit scenes, make its viewing inappropriate for my middle school students. As I watched the movie, though, many times I wished I were able to ask Professor Dube what was going on and why the events were taking place. It made me see that I really do not know much about the modern history of China.
edited by dbecker on 9/1/2011

[Anonymous]

Seven Samurai
1954
Director Akira Kurosawa

I have been wanting to see this film for years. Now that its on Hulu Classic collection, I guess it was a good time to watch it. This film is a classic, but for only film majors and history buffs. At a running time of three and half hours it really is a tough sell to the average film viewing crowd. However, I loved it, for I could see where the directors and writers of the American classics, the Magnificent Seven and the Wild bunch got their ideas. I could not ask my video students to watch it, but it would definitely be on the list of mandatory viewing for college film majors.

Farmers in a small hamlet hire seven samurai to protect them from pillagers. Though the village can only offer food in payment, each samurai takes on the near-suicidal mission for his own personal reasons. Finally at the end the villages and their three remaining samurai defeat their enamey.

The best part of this timeless epic are the scenes of Japanese village life. One comes to mind is at the end, when peace returns to the villiage, the villiagers are planting rice to the music of a simple song being performed by several village elders. Its a charming scene, that I hope is true.
edited by jdarrough on 9/5/2011

[Anonymous]

Joe,
Where did you find the movie, Seven Samurai? What is the Hulu Classic collection? Are any clips from the movie appropriate for middle schoolers to learn about samurai warriors?

[Anonymous]

I love the movie. The absorbing plot makes the movie feel shorter than 3 hours. The film depicts a 16th century Japanese farm village which has been constantly robbed and raided by bandits. The distressed rice farmers try desperately to hire professional warriors for protection with only three meals a day to offer. One by one the samurai are recruited and each character comes out with vivid personality. I not only enjoyed its depiction of the colorful characters, I also deeply touched by the samurais’ courage, inner strength and commitment.

[Anonymous]

I posted a movie review of "The Way Home" on 8/16 but it does not appear in the movie review forum so it may be somewhere in cyber space. It is now in the correct location. I do hope you all are having a fantastic school year.
“The Art of Communication” is the topic for my lesson plans and I was searching for a film to use with this curriculum. Because we were given a DVD of “The Way Home”, I checked out a review online to see if this film could be a resource. My course is an elective class and my students fall into three main categories; students who are studying film making, photography, journalism or a combination of these three.

The review described the striking scenery of rural Korea and the beautiful cinematography. These features sounded promising but it was the description of the mute grandmother and her challenges of communicating with her spoiled grandson from the city that captured my attention.

The contrast between the modern high tech life in Seoul and the age old customs of the rural villagers was depicted dramatically in the scene where the boy panics when he is unable to find a battery for his computer game.

The movie is too slow paced to hold the attention of the students but a 10 minutes clip could show the students how the pace of the story illustrates the slow pace of life in the Korean countryside. Also, this film is an unusually quiet film as the grandmother does not speak and the countryside is very silent.

The most compelling element of the movie was how the communication skills of the mute grandmother were depicted through gestures. (An interesting side note that I can share with my students is that Eul-boon Kim, the woman who plays the grandmother had never seen a film before acting in this one. The Director Jeong-hyang Lee found her during an extensive search of real rural villagers

This film offers features that will work for all three groups of students.
edited by mjones on 9/13/2011

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

I have mixed reviews about this movie. I really liked the love story and Master Lee's twist at the end even though it was a cruel thing to do. I won't say what happened just in case you haven't watched the movie yet. I had to mute this video and just read the subtitles. The singing was so overpowering, it hurt my head. I thought it was odd that the subtitle narrated everything from the clothing to footsteps. I chuckled when Panja ran and the subtitles read, "step, step, step... he breaks [something] and runs away." Or the scene when Chunhyang throws herself on Master Lee's donkey and the subtitle reads, "It bolts like a flying tiger," and you see the donkey's short legs trotting fast, but not getting far. The movie was narrated in a poetic manner with subtitles reading, "The wavy pine trees stand calm." A strong theme in this movie that I made a connection with from our class lectures was the importance of showing emotion through poetry. Chunhyang, the girl, sent Master Lee a poem and he just assumes that this poem was an invitation to go to her. Panja read it though and saw it in a different way, thinking that she cursed him in words. It was also clear how important nature was in this culture. There were lots of references to how they wished they were flowers. I loved that Master Lee painted words on her gown that she wore frequently. You definitely can't show this movie to students as their is major nudity, love scenes, and a reference that the girl was to put a cloth in the bed to show she was a virgin... Aye, yay, yay... definitely not a classroon video!

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