A Visual Gem
I saw "The Last Emperor" a few years back and the movie has staid with me in many a positive way. I was truly amazed at the quality of the sets, the costumes and and the color throughout the movie. I had the feeling that we were seeing scenes shot in the Forbidden City itself. The tale is one that deserved telling because it gives us the story of China in the 20th Century.

The prime focus of the story, obviously, is the last emporer of China, Pu Yi. We are given ample time to see the Old China through the many facets of his seclusive life in a setting of grandeur. Every aspect of every scene shown reinforces the imagery of a world of imperial power totally seperated from the hundreds of millions subjected to his rule. When rebellion reached the gates, it was time to take the best offer and leave. However, a grandiose lifestyle dating back to one's earliest memory is not replaced by a modest town house. We watched the dethroned emporer drift into an aimless life of spoiled affluence. During the Japanese invasion, the conquering army installs Pu Yi as a sort of puppet emporer to give a semblance of authority to their control. Ultimately, Pu Yi falls victim to the Communist regiem that fells no need to treat the fallen emporer any different form any othe Chinese individual in need of re-education. In a sense, Pu Yi comes to represent everything wrong with the Old China and everything wrong with the New China. All of this takes place with occassional shifts in time between past and present.

The question arises as to what category this movie fits into; an historical drama or a morality play on how the mighty have fallen. In a way it is a combination of both. The visual experience of history in "The Last Emporer" is often breath-taking and the contemplation of the life of Pu Yi impacts us in a similar manner. Yet we may come away asking ourselves just what is the message of this nearly three-hour movie. I, for one, was not able to immediately answer that question. However, it seems that everything I have read or viewed about 20th Century China since has brought me back to "The Last Emporer". As I looked up this movie to write this review, I discovered that Bertolucci has released a "director's cut" edition of "The Last Emporer" that has added an other hour to the movie. This movie impressed me so much that i will just have to get that edition to see what I missed. What I got the first time around was simply outstanding.

Not What You Think It Is
The standard interpretation on "The Last Emperor" (and certainly the title suggests such an interpretation) is that it presents the end of aristocratic China to make way for the inexorable, modern movements of the 20th century, i.e. militarist Japan and communist China.

I wonder.

Unlike Pu Yi's 20th century counterparts, Pu Yi survives: the Japanese commander blows his brains out upon his country's defeat in WWII and the head of the communist detention center eventually becomes a despised outcast of his own system.

What happens to Pu Yi?

He becomes a gardener. However humble his destiny, he ends up doing what he wanted to do all along. And, despite his travails, his integrity and courage has remained intact: Pu Yi alone tries to defend the downfallen head of the detention center before the parade of pitiless Communist youth.

Ultimately, the film appears to see the aristocratic way of life as more flexible and durable than its political challengers in the 20th century. Whatever the shortcomings of his royal upbringing, Pu Yi knew when to bend, like the plants and trees that he so lovingly tended.

Top-Notch In Every Way
Do you like bio-pics? Are you interested in history? Would you like to see a movie that has DESERVEDLY won many Academy awards? Then what are you waiting for, get this movie! (LOL!)

Visually stunning, great writing, long but holds your interest throughout. A winner, but only one drawback -- not the kind of film you want to watch over and over. Maybe once every couple of years, but that's it. So, perhaps it only deserves 4 and 3/4 stars, but still, that's a heck of a lot of stars!

Takes a while to sink in
This film tells the story of Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China. It is a long, quiet, detailed film, that focuses on how Pu Yi was molded to completely not fit in with the times and the needs of China. He is a virtual bank-vault of contradictions. What if you are the Emperor of a country that no longer wants an emperor? What if you are raised being repeatedly told that you can have anything you want, but you are also a prisoner in your own home and not even allowed to be with your family? What if you are worshipped and doted upon a household of servants, who are actually parasites living off their royal duties? What if you are told you are being given a full education, but are never allowed to interact with other children, taught how to ride a bike, or allowed to see what is beyond the walls around you?

John Lone plays Pu Yi, and he manages to be both spoiled and pitiable, intelligent but ignorant, adept and inept, and admirable and occasionally loathsome. In short, he portrays exactly the person that Pu Yi's upbringing would create.

Peter O'Toole does his usual excellent job, as he portrays the English tutor of Pu Yi through his later childhood. The tutor teaches much but, unintentionally, pushes Pu Yi even further away from the role he must play.

The story starts with Pu Yi entering prison camp as an adult living in the Communist People's Republic of China. The film then alternates between the story of the former Emperor's experiences as a prisoner, and flashbacks of his childhood and history before the Communists took control. The flashbacks gradually catch up to the other story-line, and they become one. That sequencing was beautifully done.

The movie's ending, which I will not spoil, was startling to me. After a fairly long movie that was based in a harsh and bleak reality, there is a flash of suggested supernatural symbolism. I had to rewind to make sure I had seen it right. I had. It was amazing.

Overall, this film is a keeper, but only if you are a patient viewer.

This review is based on viewing the standard version, and I have not seen the director's cut. Unfortunately, a review of either, will show up under the listing of both.

Redemptive.
With 'The Last Emperor' Bernardo Bertolucci finally succeeded where he had failed with '1900'. In the previous film he tried too hard to document a period of Italian history through 2-dimensional characters placed in didactic situations. In this film he moved closer to the story of the central character and as a result we get a greater insight into the political upheavals of China at the time and how they effected those in power.

The story itself isn't entirely objective however as the Chinese government had final say over the script and made sure to correct any 'historical inaccuracies' they deemed damaging to China's image. Like most westerners I saw the individual fate of Pu Yi as essentially tragic, a once powerful if somewhat naive figure, brought to his knees by political machinations beyond his control. However, this is not how the story is seen in China or even by Bertolucci himself (who I believe is still a member of the Italian Communist Party). For them the emperor acts as a symbol of the collective and his re-education is seen as an act of redemption. The first step on his road to becoming a fully-fledged adult shorn of the childish priviliges and illusions he has lived with all his life. In one of the final scenes of the film, Pu Yi comes across his old prison governor being publicly humiliated by the youth of the Cultural Revolution. For the first time in his life he seems to empatise with the individual plight of a fellow human being and this spurs him to futile, yet ultimately redeeming action.