Jornal da Mostra
Nº 340 > 28ª Mostra > 21/07/2005
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Two new Chinese films open wounds of the
The censorship to the Chinese cinema seems to be softening lately. Otherwise, how could it be explained the approval of the Chinese government for the film Shanghai Dreams, by Wang Xiaoshuai, a drama about the Cultural Revolution period that shows the generations conflict and the hard day by day in the country inland, to where millions of people were forcefully transferred in the 1960 decade.The film, of course, shows no explicit political critique. But the portrait that it shows about the life in the Guizhou province is not pleasant. The film shows the hard day by day in the factories and the tragedy of families forced to live in the inland as an excuse of political reeducation. Just to have an idea of what the liberation of the Chinese film production represents, we have to remember that Wang Xiaoshuai had most of his films censured by the authorities in the past. He was even part of a government black list for making films without permission. The director, who has openly dedicated the film to his parents and to the millions of Chinese involved reluctantly in the mass migration – insisted on framing the permission document and hung it on his wall, to show how surprised he was with the government decision.
Another film that criticizes the Cultural Revolution period is Peacock, from the new filmmaker Gu Changwe. The cinematographer of Farewell, My Concubine adapts his film in the beginning of the 70’s, after the Cultural Revolution, following three consecutives points of view of three brothers. One of them is a fat weird guy who suffers all kinds of humiliations and mockery. His brothers, ashamed, deny him, and even think about killing him. Paradoxically, the denied one is the only one to be well succeeded in an unbalanced family living a disintegration process.
Without attracting too much attention in the latest festivals of Berlin and Cannes, both his films stood out with special awards.
