Youth

" Youth " was a nice movie. The only thing that actually made me reduce my rating from nine to seven was the second half of the movie. Even though the start was really good, with a nice introduction of the characters and the setting where the events took place, the final half rushed things up. Especially when it came to the leading lady, with her story and take on the war, they just threw that "that is that from now on" and they didn't give a deeper look into it. Plus, the ending could have been better too, not about the actual ending, but the way they wrapped things up. That said, the performances were pretty good from everyone, especially when it came to the dancing scenes. So, overall, seven out of ten.

The directing, the acting of all the cast, the camera work...they all deserved an 8, because director Fong is still one of the better Chinese veteran directors who has been continuously gave us some more serious and more matured movies, unlike those ones who could only produce brain-dead farces which now seems to be the main stream Chinese movies titled themselves as "Comedy". If you looked at what Director Fong gave us in the past years, almost, I mean, most of them, were worth watching.

I've watched a documentary about how this film was made before viewing this film, about how Fong worked so hard to make this film more like what that pathetic era in China, a huge compound was built according to the old building structures, and how he painstakingly chose the new generation young actors to play those roles, and how he insisted them to live like those people in that era, to think like those old generation, he even insisted them to wear clothes inside out like those people in that era, he paid so much in details including how those young people really went through in a large group, lived, ate, trained and slept together, making these actors he signed up to be exactly like those people. This was a very very serious production under the insistence and persistence of Fong's movie ethics and philosophy, and indeed, he never gave way to any hardship and difficulty when tried to make this film. The preparation of making this film was about a year long, all the actors lived together with him, trained under his production experts. Yes, if by such point of view, this should deserve a high rating.

But if you look at this film from a different angle, it's completely on the opposite. Because it's an ideological propaganda film under the guidance and instruction of the Party. Because Fong and other more liberal directors were then pressured by the government to produce more political correct films instead of either commercial-wise or personal-wise films. The Party needed the young generation to learn something from the past, about how that generation was so obedient, how simple-minded, how easy and pure to be mouth-fed with the dogma of the Communism, how to follow the Party to anywhere and anytime when the Party required them to do, to think and to live. So Fong produced this film to please the Party and won the nods from the high-up Party leaders.

But Fong was also smart enough to use a flexible movie title to allow the viewers to develop freely with their imagination. "Fang Hua" in Chinese, means the best but short Youth, a duration when people is more creative, more passionate but at the same time, more naive to be fooled and brain washed. "Fang Hua" is part of a Chinese four words idiom, the other two words that hidden behind and follow Fang Hua is "Shu Du", i.e., "Completely Wasted". And indeed, if you look back to that ridiculous era and those 10-year long Culture Revolution, twenty millions Chinese were wasted, dead and buried; all the young people were forced to leave their homes and hometowns to the remote, deserted countryside, to the mountains, to the fields of wildness. Those short and the most precious years of human lives were completely wasted and could never get back or live it again. A generation, young and should be so promising, but totally lost. Fong somehow hoped that his viewers would have the least passion and realization of how precious the so-called "Youth" should be well supported, guided and tutored and should not be wasted like those young people in that era that this film portrayed. He did not just want to give you some nostalgia or melancholy deeply emotional and sentimental journey to the past, he also wanted you to realize how young people should not waste their precious but short period of their lives in vain and be fooled by the Party to willingly and unconsciously poisoned by such big foolish words like "Patriotism", "Unconditional Sacrifice for Your Motherland". So as I've pointed out in the very beginning, if from the ideological and political viewpoint, knowing this film was just for the purpose to please the Party, this film only deserved a 0.

Absolutely beautifully filmed Chinese movie. Most "nearly great" movies like this require a little suspension of belief and a "just go with the flow" attitude. Knowing what I do about the Cultural Revolution, I assume this is a fair glimpse of a very small facet of it. The tragic side: the burning of books, children sending their parents to prison, the destruction of careers and reputations, is not shown, but most informed people should know this by now. And, there are hints of it. And, in a totalitarian country, what else could you expect from a Chinese film.

I was very irritated by the review of this movie on RogerEbert.com by Simon Abrams. Though it's hard to tell, I think he was criticizing this movie for some over-simplified view of the Cultural Revolution. I say "hard to tell" because some of Abrams' sentences are incomprehensible and make no sense. But, clearly this movie is not responsible for informing everyone of the whole story of the Cultural Revolution.

Maybe the best measure of authenticity of "Youth" is the fact that it is being attended in the U.S. by droves of Chinese Americans. Many of these, at least their parents, may have lived through the Cultural Revolution. When I went, my friend and I were the only non-Chinese in the theater.

In the Youth, you can listen and see: Brilliant revolutionary songs, passionate speech, red, rhubarb and green screen tone, green military uniform, green school bag, twist braid, Prairie female militia and Yi Mung Song the dances with a distinct characteristic of the times, the revolutionary slogan, Portrait of Chairman Mao, Quotations Chairman Mao. These are a lot of memorable memories for 50s, 60s and 70s audiences who feel familiar and cordial. For 80s, 90s and 00s, these audiences would feel that the good are not well rewarded and the bad are not punished.

The manifestation of sentient beings of the art troupe reflects the apparent social existence of the class or hierarchy, the marriage between families of equal social rank and the insidious side of complex human nature. Lin Ding Ting can be an example.

Lin Ding ding: heartless and egoistic individual

As a solo with a natural voice in the art troupe, Lin Ding Ting was sought after by male soldiers. She also understood how to seduce a good man among these suitors and get benefits from them. In the movie, Liu Feng, an army doctor and a military photography officer were secretly pursuing her. Lin Ding Ting was hugged by the army doctor and got painkillers easily from him, which was a shortage of drugs at that time. Lin Ding Ting was also hugged by the military photography officer and was photographed around by him when shooting outside. Therefore, she has her own exclusive photographer, carrying a camera with the beat. Moreover, she ate the can of food from him, which was rare in that time. When shooting target, Lin Ding Ting muzzled at the military photography officer, almost causing accidental injury. At that time, there were clashes between two pursuers, Liu Feng and the military photography officer. Liu Feng accused the officer that the position was wrong. And the officer suspected Liu Feng too dull. This thing proved that both were jealous of each other.

Like all the female soldiers in the art troupe, Lin Ding Ting, who was sophisticated and beautiful, enjoyed Liu Feng's help, care and ambiguity. But Liu Feng and Lin Ding Ting, a combination of carpenter's son and artist's daughter, cannot catch on due to no equal in social status. However, in Liu Feng's mind, as the most beautiful man as the Lei Feng-style in the art troupe, he could deserve the most beautiful goddess of the whole unit. It's a stupid idea! When the only time Liu Feng summoned the courage to show Lin Ding Ting the love and touch her, she has no obvious rejection tantalizing passivity, as if she had been flirting with the army doctor or the military photography officer. Usually at that time, Lin Ding Ting could not only enjoy the pleasure of being loved by everyone, but also refused to give a clear and definite answer. When Liu Feng hugged her, she showed no fierce resistance or conflict. Unfortunately, the time when Liu Feng hugged Lin Ding was caught by two other comrades. After being seen, Lin Ding Ting is more like a panic. It was not because of Liu Feng's embrace, but because Lin Ding Ting was afraid that she would be put on the wrong side of the hat, fearing that his reputation would be destroyed. So when she returned to her bedroom, she would cry so badly. Lin Ding Ting sobbed: Anyone can, but Liu Feng can't, because who let him be a living Lei Feng! She concocted a lot of imaginary things and created plenty of nonsense. Later, she took the initiative to find the leader in the art troupe. And then, Liu Feng was portrayed by Lin Ding Ting as a creepy man who wanted to solve her underwear buttons. The tragedy began. A living lei Feng would instantly become a rogue vigilante.

Lin Ding ding's dream was to marry into a good family. How could she have seen much in a Lei Feng who just knew only to help others? She knew exactly what it meant to Liu Feng, but it didn't matter in her own future. Lin Ding Ting deemed that her reputation could not be destroyed. Therefore, she did not hesitate to destroy Liu Feng's future to save herself.

This kind of girls is good at observing changes in the environment and knows when to make what decision. Once deciding, they go to action. Therefore, after the art troupe disbanded, Lin Ding Ting was no hesitation in deciding to marry abroad. She must have married an overseas Chinese who had never met before and was only a blind date.

As a matter of fact, people like Lin Ding Ting are more common in reality. They look harmless on the surface, but inside they are essentially self-serving people. They always have clear goals in mind. Do not care about the process, only care about the results. To achieve their own purpose, they can do nothing. To maximize their interests, they can abandon all principles. Therefore, if you meet someone like Lin Ding Ting, be sure to guard against them!

Youth is the latest work by Xiaogang Feng, a well-known Chinese Director with many domestic box office success and ambitious effort to make serious movies. The screen play was written by the talented writer Geling Yan, whose life trajectory closely paralleled with the story line. Both Feng and Yan shared the experience of living and working in the Military Cultural Troupe, a special unit serving the Military with 'artful' performances but later largely disassembled as the Chinese society moved to market economy in 1980s. The majority of the stories in the movie occurred from mid-70s to early-80s, which marks a historically critical period of modern China and the youthful years of a generation who are around 60 years old now.

The well crafted production settings, costumes and makeups immediately reset the clock for 40 years and bring you to the late stage of Culture Revolution. The signature dance moves, songs, body gestures, and use of words strongly evoke one's memory of that time; such rich cultural message unfortunately may be lost to western audiences. The nostalgic sentiment has overpowered many (millions) Chinese viewers for sure. In a sense, it was the Age of Innocence when the youths were largely shielded from dating and selfish motives. However, as the plot developed, conflict arose, things got escalated and people's fate changed. The movie is unpolitical and intends to tell the story of a group of regular young people limited by their historical environment. Most of the female leads are new faces on screen, whose performance was refreshing and enjoyable.

Overall, the cinematography was done in a lively manner with nicely coordinated music scores. The movie was told from a young lady's perspective, thus may feel a bit on the feminine side for some. To me, it is beautifully done and quite an achievement.