Beginning of the Great Revival [HD]

Communist Chinese Propaganda That Misses The Mark As A History Lesson Or As Entertainment
Made from a purely propagandistic standpoint, "Beginning of The Great Revival" is a state sanctioned effort to commemorate the ninetieth anniversary of the adoption of that country's Chinese Communist Party. As such, it is a celebratory and one-sided event that shies away from any unnecessary unpleasantness or critique to present the glories of enlightenment. On subject matter and perspective alone, therefore, the film can be viewed in a rather negative light. And justifiably so. But being pragmatic, a film can be distasteful and/or untruthful but still merit consideration from a historical significance viewpoint. Take, for example, Griffith's "Birth of a Nation." Morally and thematically reprehensible, it still helped define the language of film and is absolutely a masterpiece--however wrongheaded and dangerous (and it was directly responsible for many deaths). Obviously, I'm not saying that "Beginning of the Great Revival" holds the same significance, just that I was willing to have...

Sound Bites of History
I was really looking forward to this film, but it was a disappointment. I almost gave it a two star rating , but that inclination was probably the result of dashed expectations. Three stars is only a little generous, so the reader could probably find my true sentiments somwhere in-between.

With a host of great Chinese stars, I imagined this film would be a great epic production with beautiful scenes and a driving plot. Sorry to say it, but this film truly missed the mark. Though the visuals were great, the film played like a string of commercials, very choppy and somewhat disconnected. Rather than focusing on main themes, the plot presents the years leading up to the Chinese Revolution as a series of small and large events with both major leaders and secondary figures getting their due notice. The result is a movie filled with sound bites of history, a story line of vignetts. The great actors in the film are forced to develop their characters with only a few lines and...

Fascinating Movie
I really enjoyed this movie. I like having the chance to see an authentic voice of China, something that actually happened.

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