Customer Reviews

The Blue Kite [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Blue Kite is truly a great example of the new chinese cinema that gathered the attention from all over the world. First of all it is very realistic, very honest and very touching. Director manages to melt this 3 different emotion so well with the great acting and a well written story. Story starts with a baby's birth in early Mao era china and slowly continues its journey in China's political history of 50's and 60's. In this movie we witness a family's struggle to keep up with the times against all political unstabilities of those days. A mother's struggle to grow her child after loosing 2 husbands and other misfortunes that fell on her and her family is extrmely well portrayed and acting is well executed by the actors. Camera captures verything as real and sometimes like a historical documentary that is set in a family's circle. Overall Blue Kite is a brilliant film and a good referance point of the new Chinese cinema. Check it out.

As most other people have commented, the film is about a tragic story of common Chinese people under Mao's communism rule. I will focus more on my thoughts about why the film is named "The Blue Kite" as it seems have little relationship with the topic of the film, as especially why there are so many scenes of the blue kite stuck on trees.

The story started when Tietou's parents got married and a bunch of children chasing a blue kite but it is stuck on the top of tree. One child tries to fetch it by climbing over the roof. Adults come out and warn the children and one says "I will get a new one for you for sure". This scene is certainly the happiest moment in the film as people are cheerful. The historic background is that China just had communism revolution and most people believed it would bring prosperity and democracy. Common people are cheerful at that time.

As Anti-Rightist political movement came and Tietou's family is shattered by political accusations, soon there was widespread famine in China but eventually people survived and once again Tietou believed that his kite can fly. People are more hopeful if not cheerful that 10 years ago. People still believe in the system. And finally Tietou's mother remarried a high-ranking party official and things seem to get better.

And then cultural revolution started, no one could escape the political accusation and Tietou's stepfather became a target of struggle. Finally Tietou lying on the ground, beated up by Red Guards, watching the kite broken in the wind, listless on the treetop. And finally I realized that the kite stands for Hope, people's hope for a better life.

The kite was stuck several times (apparently due to mistake or accident, certainly having political implication), and Chinese people were forgetful of these events and simply hoping things can get better and despite the apparent tragedies, people's hope is not shattered as the blue kite is still intact. People were actually willing to cooperate with all sorts of political movements and hope all the tragedies were caused by themselves. But eventually when cultural revolution broke out and people are brutally beated by Red Guards, hope is shattered, at least in the mind and eyes of Tietou as he saw the broken kite. People are not longer fasinated by political movements and blls**t any more.

The film is certainly bleaker than a similar one called "To Live". It is certainly understandable since different people endured different harshness under Mao's rule and some are totally disillusioned by Mao's communism and own tragedies, some actually cherish life more and get more hopeful.

But this certainly is not a documentary since it only uses the political events as background. It is valueable to be part of the learning of modern China as it depicts the impact on many people at Mao's rule and that period of history greatly shapes how modern Chinese people think and behave in many implicit ways.

Fear rules when the party can denounce anyone at anytime for voicing opinions or even thinking that what the government does isn't right. A great coming of age movie with strong political overtones. The acting is excellent and you really feel for the young protagonist. This is a must see for all chinese film fans. I really enjoyed the subtle way that the viewer is pulled into the film. At each turn we almost want to shout to the actors "Don't speak up or they'll haul you away to the camps!" This really says how the film puts you in the position of "what would I do if I didn't live in a free society." A very real look at how a repressive government can destroy lives and prevent creativity and economic prosperity. A good companion to this film is the Russian production of "The Thief", also an enjoyable coming of age flick. I wonder how the reviewer from Moscow didn't get it. May be this will help. Freedom includes the right to say whatever you want about a government and try to make changes within the system without fear of reprisals. (Especially being sent to internment camps or being beaten to death.) Does that simplify it for you.

I strongly disagree with James J. J. Janis' review on The Blue Kyte. An effective film doesn't mean that it is a two hour movie that covers everything about the subject, but a two hour movie that opens your minds up to the subject. It'd leave you thinking and wondering. It'd make you want to find out more, asking why and how. Personally, I was very moved by the movie. I too came to the movie with some background knowledge of the topic, but I did not watch the movie thinking that I learned nothing from it. Even though it somewhat echoed a book that I recently read, Son of the Revolution, I still feel like I left the film understanding more and wanting to find out even more. However, I have to acknowledge the I do believe that people who can understand Mandarin would appreaciate the movie a bit more than those that don't. Because the subtitles sometimes skips or mistranslates some important phrases. Yes, he might be right that there are scenes that can be cut out to make the film at a reasonable length, but for what? To match Holleywood filmmaking standards? How can you cut any realistic scenes from a movie that is to tell the story. What and who is to determine that only certain details of the peasants' life tell the Chinese communist story and others are just simply unrelavent? Overall, I give this movie a 5 star rating. Because I cannot find another movie that shows more truth about the China under Mao's influence in the late 50's and 60's more than this one particular film.

An important fact is that Zhuangzhuang Tian was barred from making films in China after Blue Kite was released in the United States. This film was also banned in China after he had received the 1993 Tokyo Grand Prix in the Tokyo International Film Festival. Blue Kite is a powerful film that displays Tietou's upbringing in Beijing during the beginning of the Communist era when large numbers of people were arrested for different thinking. The film begins with the birth of Tietou, which is a result of his mothers agony after the death of Stalin. Tietou's name, Iron Head, is also a tribute to the day Stalin died. Tietou's family seems happy, however, underneath the audience can feel an undercurrent of worry where people are afraid of expressing their ideas and values. The reason is that there are frequent messages announced over loud speakers around the neighborhood about ill-fated individuals who have been arrested by the Communist Party for having notions that are against the belief of the party. During this time, the infant Tietou is growing up and plays on his street with the neighborhood kids. One day, his kite is flies into a tall tree and gets stuck. His father, Lin Shaolong, tells Tietou with a strong expression of love and care, "I can make you another one." This is very unusual, since it seems like the social environment in which they live inhibits most people from expressing themselves in any way due to fear of the Communist Party. Unfortunately, a friend of the family gives Lin Shaolong's name to the Communist Party and he is sent to a reform camp. In the camp he is accidentally killed, which leaves Tietou and his mother, Chen Shujuan, alone. However, Tietou is too young to understand the complexity of death and tells his mother to get another "Happy Old Uncle". His mother does so, but it is the same man who gave her husband's name to the Communist Party. The story repeats itself again as Tietou grows into a teenager. The audience is delivered a strong message through this daring film that stopped Zhuangzhuang Tian's ability to continue expressing his own notions and feelings on the screen in China. At the end, an overwhelming flood of sympathy flushes over the viewers through this brilliant cinematic experience.

"The Blue Kite" is a realistic film about the lives of Chinese families in the hutong, or traditional neighborhoods in Beijing between 1953 and 1968. We get fairly good impressions as to what life was like for children and adults living in courtyard homes that are increasingly being dismantled in Beijing, replaced by modern apartments and stores. We see how families gather around in their courtyard homes to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We also see how Chinese families then, as now, are very close, gathering together during family meals, and how grandparents often helped raise their grandchildren.

This film also realistically portrays some of the terrible effects of Mao's policies on ordinary human beings in China. I highly recommend this film and "To Live" as being the two best and most realistic films as to how Mao's misguided, perverse policies affected many ordinary, completely innocent human beings, who were working hard to raise their families, enjoying relatively simple lifestyles.

The movie is primarily told from the perspective of a child, Tietou. Shujuan, his mother, in the course of the events shown in the film has three husbands. Shalong, Her first husband is falsely accused of being a Rightist in the so-called anti-Rightist campaign, instigated by Mao, during the late 1950's. People in workplaces were pressured to come up with a quota of so-called rightists, who were usually sent to labor camps in the countryside. Shaolong, during a meeting with his colleagues to decide who will be labelled a rightist to placate Communist party bosses, briefly leaves the meeting to go to the bathroom. When he returns, he discovers he has been chosen by the others as being a rightist, to be punished. Shalong is completely innocent and tragically dies from an accident in the labor camp.

Tietou has a very difficult time during his childhood, often teased by other boys and he does not get along with his mother's third husband, a high level official who lives in a large, comfortable home. This stepfather is also cruelly tormented by mobs of Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.

"The Blue Kite" is a relatively slow film, but I highly recommend this film because of its realistic portrayal of the daily lives of Chinese people in the hutong during the 1950's and 1960's, as well as being a courageous film by Zhuangzhuang Tian, the director, in exposing how many innocent people greatly suffered because of Mao's cruel, inhumane policies. This is one of the best films ever made about social life in modern China.

Compared to a similar film-"To Live"--this movie never really connects the viewer to the main characters--perhaps intentionally-I'm not sure--but despite the various calamities--one really never sympathises/empathises with any of the characters. About the only emotion felt during a viewing of this movie is ambivalence--perhaps all men are straw dogs as per the Taoist's and this is an expression of that sentiment.
Basically, the story of a mother and her son from the Communist take over, through the Great Leap forward and the Cultural revolution.
Worth watching--but in my opinion significantly inferior to "To Live" But also--significantly better than some of the garbage hollywood spews out!

'The Blue Kite' is set in Beijing, China and follows a family from 1953 till 1967 following several major reforms. Starting with the first 5 year plan, which included the Reformation Act, through the Great Leap Forward till roughly the middle of the Cultural Revolution, the film explores relationships within a family and how history and political turmoil affect the individual. The film specifically focuses on the relationship between a mother and her son and their relationship against a back drop of political turmoil. As the film progresses the family is slowly being torn apart and with each new political event the family becomes further fragmented and gradually lose hope as they struggle between obtaining a balance between family and politics. Eventually history catches up to the individual; families and friendships are destroyed as life becomes a battle of survival. One cannot win against the higher power of history; the individual is crushed and left hopeless by history gone awry.

This film is a powerful epic masterpiece. It leaves the viewer drained and exhausted at the end. the story line about the lunacy of the Chinese communist regime and its polices in the 50's and 60's can equally apply across time and cultures and borders. After viewing the film one wonders if there is a right time to go to the toilet but such episode played so subtly only reflects the director's wonderful touch . There is none of the tear jerking and sentimentality one usually finds in the Chinese sad films but the story line just slowly and methodically develops and draws the audience into the bottomless abyss of human insanity and the cruelty of rigid regimes while on the surface children played in the streets and vendors hawked their products and everything seemed normal. But the characters slowly got affected and human beings were being twisted and bent and knocked down and inconviences turned into unhappiness into sufferings and into death or interminable pain. The director used symbols of macular degeneration for the blindness of the people, nursery rythmes to emphasize the horror perpetuated by navie people , kites for hope which kept being lodged in trees and the adults 'uncles' kept promising a new one. In the end all lives were ruined and the boy lay on the ground bloodied and bruised looking skyward at his blue kite shattered and lodged in the tree blowing in the wind. The director left the viewer to decide if a new kite will indeed be flown again and lodged again and broken again or will it soar into the sky by the two kids earlier in the film free and strong and above all human pettiness and conflict.
That secne will be in my consciousness forever.

All the revolutions are like Saturn; they conclude devouring even its most beloved. In this case we have an intimate story of schoolteacher from 1954 to 1967. A woman who loses three husbands and eventually her own freedom.

Once more the powerful depiction of these brutal years are realistically conveyed into the big screen with notable crudeness and beating actuality.

An advertence for all those who firmly still believe about the human redemption.