A documentary musical about the rise and fall of Madam Mao's colorful propaganda opera's during the 1965-1975 Cultural Revolution in China and their renewed popularity in modern day China.These 8 Revolutionary model operas were called the Yang Ban Xi. Based on traditional Chinese stories and adapted to the likes of Mao's wife Jiang Qing Min, the first lady of the Cultural Revolution, these operas presented the world in a much simpler way. All the good guys were farmers and revolutionary
soldiers, singing and dancing in the broad spotlight. All the bad guys were landlords and anti revolutionaries with dark make-up. They were pure propaganda told in beautiful images, incorporating the most modern techniques of cinematography, song, and dance. It was the only culture allowed in China for 10 years.Although Madame Mao was ultimately convicted as a member of the Gang of Four and committed suicide in prison, the operas have recently regained popularity with the younger generation, who see it as a marvelous mixture of high and low culture. They are performed again and are now also available in Karaoke versions in the Chinese Supermarket.Exquisite original film segments from the Yang Ban Xi, combined with interviews with those who played in them at the time and contemporary performances, open a window into present-day urban China and its burgeoning cultural scene, and make for a visually striking and captivating film.
Too often ... the film remains a hostage to its ambitious construction rather than simply using the opportunity to draw back the veil on a little-documented era.
The director Yan-Ting Yuen revisits China's recent past to explore the history and legacy of one of the strangest byproducts of totalitarian madness: the revolutionary spectacular.
Yan opens a window on the past that Westerners in particular will find almost too bizarre for words, yet which never degenerates to the level of outright mockery.
This enthralling documentary, a Dutch production by Hong Kong-born female director Yan Ting Yuen, not only reclaims the Chinese propaganda opera but niftily positions it in the rush of Chinese cultural history.
What lingers is the observation of the thoughtful young artist who admires these productions: He believes it's the function of art to hide the reality that makes you shudder. Yuen would have been better off exposing more of that reality.
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