By LaPtiteLu

This weekend, we have watched a lot of movies. After seeing the Hobbit in the week, we thought it would be nice watching again and again Lord of the Rings. The entire trilogy, eating crepes. Yeah, it was Chandeleur. 

But I won’t talk about crepes or the sublime trilogy because we ended Sunday with a Chinese movie. Yes… A lot of movies, I told you.
And it was a wonderful film as the greater part of Chinese movies I watch. That’s what I want to talk about.

It is Huózhe, translated by To Live (Live) directed by Zhang Yimou, the Chinese director. The story takes place in the 50s and outlines  the struggle of a married couple in a small town in northern China while it was under the rule of Mao Zedong. We are witnessing the implementation of this new system arbitrarily. People are happy, they are convinced that it is for their own good and they live better this way. Until everything goes too far and aberrations of communism become fatal. But that’s not the main purpose of the movie. The main emphasis is this couple, who fights with a single purpose: to lead a simple life. The film is biting truth of melancholy. He talks about the Chinese culture, human, life.

Of course this film was banned in China because of its critical portrayal of various policies and campaigns of the Communist government. Zhang and lead actress Gong Li was also banned from film for two years. They were not even able to talk about their film. Many Chinese people will not have the chance to see this movie.

I deeply admire those artists who despite censorship, despite the restrictions that still stand today against them manage to make such beautiful things.
I wanted to talk about it because thanks to movies like that, we can understand better the actual China. So if you get the chance, watch it !