A Great Wall

The first American movie filmed in Mainland China presents a mild but occasionally diverting clash of cultures following the reunion in Peking of a thoroughly westernized Chinese-American family from San Francisco with their Old World relatives. The comedy catalogues the bewilderment of host and guest alike when confronted by peculiar foreign customs, with the best laughs coming from the People's republic point of view: students singing 'Papa Rawdi' (Pavarotti) and reciting, in unique pidgin, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; an old man coping with the electric blanket presented as a gift by his American brother-in-law; the question of whether or not everyone in the United States has VD. The Western perspective is less interesting only because it's more familiar (football, rock 'n' roll, and so forth) but everyone benefits from the mutual exposure, including the audience.

Peter Wang's most excellent adventure -- as director and actor in this work, his work simply shines. This film probably works best for adults, preferably in their thirties or forties or older. It's about tracing one's roots, one's ancestors across the sea -- in this case, the Pacific Ocean; but in other ways, many of the elements of the story are universal.

There's a friendly, respectful attitude taken to Mainland China here; none of the atmosphere or tension of investigative journalism presents itself. After all, the subject at hand is visiting with relatives. Wang does a nice job of presenting how both cultures tend to look down at the other, not necessarily in a bitter way, but more in a comic vein. We express sympathy for what we perceive as faults or missing elements in the culture or individual lives of the other relatives. What the American Chinese family perceives as a failing may be a source of pride or strength for the Mainland family -- and vice versa. This film is one of a handful that, immediately after seeing it, I wanted to go right back into the theater and see it again. I didn't. I went back the very night day. Finding the video to rent can be difficult in some places; but well worth the effort. I try to watch it at least once every two to three years; always gets me laughing again, and by the end, I still wish I could have been there with this young family in China and had them as personal friends to visit with here in California. They seem to have such fun and such spirit; a very beautiful rapport between father and son is shown and further developed as the film unfolds. Don't miss it, whatever you do -- the whole film, not just the ending. It took my breath away. Too bad the title is a bit much.

In San Francisco, Peter Wang doesn't get the promotion to lead the new division, so he spills hot coffee on his boss's lap. Then he takes his wife and son to visit his sister's family in Beijing. There, the daughter of the house, Qinqin Li, is trying to get one of the rare admissions to university. They all distract each other from their lives.

Peter Wang's exploration of cultural clash amidst a loving family seems very random at times, yet it all adds up to the random series of events that go into a family. Wang's brother-in-law, Xiaoguang Hu, is the most comical of all the characters, with his sluffing off of responsibility to rearing his daughter to his life, and comes out with statements about the evils of American society and the rampant homosexuality on the streets in the United States. Yet in the end everyone likes everyone else, and has something to teach, and to learn.

there are some really good constructive criticism for China and these includes problems that are common in the contemporary Chinese society, such as cutting in in front other people in the line of waiting and disrespect to privacy. Economic progress alone is not enough to make a modern society and this is the greatest contribution of this movie behind its stories.

This is a simple but heartwarming story of a Chinese American family who go to Beijing to visit relatives, setting up a gentle comparison of cultures. It doesn't yield any earth-shattering revelations, but it's notable for having been made in 1986, the first American film shot in the People's Republic of China, and just three years before Tiananmen Square.

Some of the best things in this film can be found in little moments that reflect such cultural truths. The neighbors all coming out to see the arrival of foreigners, which was unusual then. The Chinese mom reading her daughter's mail and asking her brother directly about his salary. The subtle embarrassment caused by American displays of affection, like the nephew hugging his Chinese aunt, or the American parents comforting each other at a family grave.

The film is also effective in dispelling stereotypes about Chinese Americans, and reflecting some of the difficulties they face. The father is passed up for a promotion for a less qualified white colleague. The mother explains to a workout partner that she doesn't actually speak Chinese, saying "Can't you tell? I'm an American." The son is not a cliché math nerd, and is shown making out with his white girlfriend - an interracial relationship that has always been less accepted, that of an Asian man and a Caucasian woman, and not the other way around. He loves football, throwing one around on the Great Wall, and taping his own face over Joe Montana's on a poster he has in his bedroom, bits I loved. He's easy-going, but voices an age-old issue for those with a duality of cultures: "People in America think I'm too Chinese, and then people in China think I'm too American." All of these things were quietly powerful, and done in ways which weren't preachy.

There are dimensions to the Chinese/American comparison director/writer/actor Peter Wang offers us, notably the older/younger generational differences from both sides, and husband/wife relationship similarities. Some seem a little obvious and I suppose they are, but through it all there is a wonderful sense of acceptance, not one of anyone being wrong or inferior. The differences in things like music, the way people exercise, or their accommodations are things to be appreciated and learned from. Despite the enormous change in this generation, with a sister and her family remaining in China while her brother and his family are in San Francisco, we see family bonds enduring, and parents wanting the best for their children.

The story is less successful than the cultural representation, meandering as it is. The big ping pong match that occurs near the end held some level of interest because it was clear both actors played the game very well, but it was odd that this was the climax to the film. It was as if Wang was searching for some plot escalation or some way to make the film more mainstream, and arrived at this. I would have much rather have seen more of the brother/sister dynamic, how it was when they parted, or more footage in Beijing. Overall though, a nice little film, and one that would fit in very nicely with the films of Wayne Wang from the 80's.