लास्ट एम्परर

Best movie about the East I've ever seen.

The credo of many famous western movies (from "Die Hard" to "Truman show") is a lonely hero who challenges fate or numerous "bad guys". He usually wins on the screen. Unfortunately, it rarely happens in real life. Especially, on the East.

Six years ago I thought about this movie as a metaphor of "history-person" relations. Past and present of my birthplace (Russia) is exceptionally rich with biographies of worthy people that have become puppets in the hands of history or some dictator (e.g.Stalin).

Now a "parallel" interpretation arose. We can think also about "fate-person" relations. Our fate is often personalized by the forces of subconscious. Historical and subconscious forces have much in common. Both are very strong and tend to provocation. An attempt to beat them often comes to end in the same way as the attempt of Pu Yi to "use Japan". In both cases, information that we have in our struggle is extremely restricted.

The last remark. We had all been Emperors in early childhood. Then we've been overthrown and it's impossible to return the Kingdom. I wonder, why the Scotland tutor haven't told it to Pu Yi?

This to me was a very powerful movie, I loved the story, and the final outcome was how it should be. Somehow we believe that Kings, Queens, Emperors etc are entitled to their power, that somehow they deserve it. This is how this emperor saw himself, he believed he was better, and above the average person, his sense of entitlement and view of reality was so perverted, that he did everything possible to retain and regain his position in life. However from the day he entered the palace he was a pawn, powerless to act, yet he never sees this. Maybe we don't all understand his re-education, but this is what makes the ending so great. There is a fantastic moral to this story. A beautiful story, sad, moving, and somehow, strangely uplifting. Highly recommended. 9/10

Every time I mention to someone that I hadn't seen The Last Emperor, the first reaction is disbelief, and the second is `It is such a good movie'. And indeed it was. I'm not sure what the non-director's cut was, because the version I saw was the director's cut, but it was absolutely fantastic. Not once did I think that the nearly four hour run time was too long because the story was so compelling, the direction brilliant and the acting engaging. I find it hard to believe that it took me this long to see this film, and I also find it hard to believe it is not in the IMDB Top 250. Its Best Picture and Director honors were well-deserved, and the Oscar-winning score is amazing. I'll admit that I was left hanging a bit in regard to the Emperor's wife, but that is the only thing that I can remotely find slightly lacking in this film. An outstanding film, The Last Emperor is entertaining, informative and important.

--Shelly

I guess I'm the only one who watched this from a worn out-of-print VHS copy. No matter what the quality, THE LAST EMPEROR is arguably among the best of the foreign pictures. The sights and sounds of The Forbidden City are sharp and beautifully screened right on with the provocative events that unfold the coming-of-age life of Pu Yi. It has plentiful moments including his romantic affairs with concubines and how he learns the way of the world as a child. His chronicle of a young emperor boy paints a colorful picture for the first half, only leading to more conflicting matters later, which is the most exciting part. Don't expect to see heads getting chopped off, like I thought would happen (unless you have the longer DVD version), but the intensity of the talk surrounding it sounds horrifying and true. Nevertheless, the dialogue is clearly mystical. Every minute is a feel-good breeze through crafty cinematic art, but it ends too fast, and the narration from Pu Yi in his prison term could use a lot more detailing. Maybe I'll stick around longer and wait to see the Director's Cut which has more. Definitely a winning treat not to be missed for foreign movie lovers and collectors of premium filmfare.

'The Last Emperor' tells the story of Pu Yi, as an adult played by John Lone, the last emperor of China. He was three years old when he first sat down on the Dragon Throne. He didn't know anything. The movie tells his story from that moment in flashbacks. We also get to see Pu Yi when the Chinese Communists have the power and he is imprisoned. Because people have taken care of him the rest of his life, from three years old to the moments inside the prison, it still feels he knows nothing.

To tell you about the life of Pu Yi would be a mistake. You have to see this movie to learn more about it. The strange thing is that Pu Yi can not do and decide much for himself. He is a hero of a movie where he is controlled by rules and other people. That is one of the reasons not many real things happen. We see the emperor grow up, we see him take an empress and a concubine, and then he has to leave the Forbidden City because the enemy is at the gate.

The impressive thing here are the locations and the costumes. Everything looks fabulous and it is not a surprise to find out that the movie was shot on location. With all the extras in those beautiful costumes there are a lot of very impressive scenes. May be the movie is a bit too long for some, it didn't really bother me. Director Bernardo Bertolucci has made a terrific movie.