Does it sound silly to saybafoozMay 21 2007, 10:53:33 UTC
The puppets made me cry and cry, actually - one of the early scenes, where they're being overrun by the Communists after they wake up to find the KMT camp deserted? And Fugui so carefully carried those beautiful puppets the whole time, and they wind up on the snow covered fields, trampled. I was afraid that was the end of the puppets right there. And then when they burned them, I cried and cried at that, too. What a waste, you know?
Then I thought 'that's silly, crying over puppets' - but I guess it's not, it's a little tragedy for a family who has big tragedies in a movie about a little family's tragedy set against the tragedy and travesty of bigger events.
Does Yu Hua not like the movie? I looked around and saw that he says the novel is better than the movie (aren't they almost always, though?), but not sure if he particularly criticized Zhang's version or not. I did read a wrap up of a discussion he had at UCLA, and apparently he said he thought some differences might be due to the fact that Zhang was, of course, older when the Cultural Revolution started & it is thus a very different memory for him than for Yu ....
It was a profoundly powerful film. My thoughts as usual are all mixed up and I can't manage to get out what I want to say. But man. Today I was chatting with C about his weekend - he said 'Oh, yesterday we went to see 28 Weeks Later, stupid fluffy fun' and I said 'Yeah ... yesterday I watched Huozhe and Hong Gaoliang.' He went o.O. It was a double dose of depressing films, though I think To Live is the superior film (well ... makes sense).
It reminded me why I just couldn't make post-'49 the focus of my studies - I am too partial, too emotional. I realize this is a film based on a novel, just fiction, but I have the same horrified reaction to little events (like the puppets) and big movements when I read 'real' accounts and 'real' history books. I'm sort of looking forward to having to really study it in grad school and hopefully get past that a little ....
Then I thought 'that's silly, crying over puppets' - but I guess it's not, it's a little tragedy for a family who has big tragedies in a movie about a little family's tragedy set against the tragedy and travesty of bigger events.
Does Yu Hua not like the movie? I looked around and saw that he says the novel is better than the movie (aren't they almost always, though?), but not sure if he particularly criticized Zhang's version or not. I did read a wrap up of a discussion he had at UCLA, and apparently he said he thought some differences might be due to the fact that Zhang was, of course, older when the Cultural Revolution started & it is thus a very different memory for him than for Yu ....
It was a profoundly powerful film. My thoughts as usual are all mixed up and I can't manage to get out what I want to say. But man. Today I was chatting with C about his weekend - he said 'Oh, yesterday we went to see 28 Weeks Later, stupid fluffy fun' and I said 'Yeah ... yesterday I watched Huozhe and Hong Gaoliang.' He went o.O. It was a double dose of depressing films, though I think To Live is the superior film (well ... makes sense).
It reminded me why I just couldn't make post-'49 the focus of my studies - I am too partial, too emotional. I realize this is a film based on a novel, just fiction, but I have the same horrified reaction to little events (like the puppets) and big movements when I read 'real' accounts and 'real' history books. I'm sort of looking forward to having to really study it in grad school and hopefully get past that a little ....
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