Film Pick of the Week: The Last Emperor

Over the next several weeks, I will be posting some film ideas for you all that are film fans like myself. In my opinion, there is no better way to get a feel for a country than to experience the film from that country. I have a fairly sizable collection of Chinese films, and I find them to be some of the best explorations of the human condition. I also find that Chinese film provides the western viewer with a better understanding of the eastern psyche and culture.

Although it's not technically a Chinese film, but created by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci in 1987, The Last Emperor is a perfect starting point for trying to understand China's history from the fall of the last dynasty, the Qing dynasty, in 1911, to the republic period, to Japanese invasion which really launched World War II in 1937 (two years before Germany's invasion of Poland), to Mao's Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. The Last Emperor is actually shot on location in China, and its crew was the first to obtain permission to do so by China's Communist government. Aside from being a history lesson, the film is beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and superbly written and directed. Bertolucci's masterpiece was nominated for 9 Oscars and won all 9 of them (the first film to pull off this feat as well, and the only one to do so until Peter Jackson's Return of the King in 2003). Again, although not Chinese, this is a great starting point in getting acquainted with 20th century Chinese history. Check out the trailer below...