| A Movie To Make Balzac Proud |
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| written by talltale |
January 8, 2006 - 8:15 AM PST |
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4 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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Exotic and then some, the French/Chinoise BALZAC & THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS offers one of the more unusual time, place and characters in any film of the past few years: 1970s China, during the Red Guard cultural revolution. Unlike a movie such as "To Live," however, this newer one takes place in a gloriously beautiful mountain region where the impact of the Red Guards was lessened by the far-off location and the lack of sophistication of the indigenous people. Consequently, what happens to the two young men who arrive here from the city for re-education--and the lovely young seamstress they become involved with--is less extreme and costly in some ways, while more so in others.
I don't recall another film in which the introduction of art and culture to a people deprived of it has rung out with such resonance and joy. Its message applies as much to eastern as western civilizations, to Communist, socialist or capitalist societies: Force feed your people a diet of confined ideas and they will find a way to expand it--usually, and unsurprisingly, via art. The narrative is non-stop fascinating and pleasurable, and if it suddenly rushes ahead from the abilities and risks of youth to the concessions and compromises of middle age, it also manages to wrap around one more time toward a resolution that is both poignant and inevitable. This is among the richest of modern-day stories--and a "Don't Miss" for foreign film fans. |
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