Another glimpse at a bygone era - "The Last Emperor" (1987)

We had a guest reviewer join us for our on-theme dinner and viewing tonight. We ate salt and pepper squid with julienne stir fried vegetables and drank Tiger beer while watching the Best Picture winner from 1987. This was an odd movie. An incredibly epic movie and the scale and logistics behind it were phenomenally detailed and grand, but an odd movie. It maps a fascinating time in Chinese history, from the coronation of ‘the last emperor’ at age 3 in the Forbidden City to his abdication in 1912 (that he didn’t know about, because he was still only 7 years old) and traces his life of opulence and absolute rule as the all powerful ‘Lord of 10,000 years’ at age 3 to the life of peasant gardener in the communist China of the 60s.

It is this illustration of the extremes of his life that make it such interesting, odd, but compelling viewing. In the midst of this epic movie (nearly 15,000 people were hired as extras) and life, the director is able to find and highlight some painfully sweet and subtle moments; the young boy climbing roof tops to get a glimpse at his ‘kingdom’ beyond the Forbidden City, the young man asking his new tutor not to tell his minders of the existence of his pet mouse – his one true friend.

There are some gaps in the story-telling - but it does justice to the span of his life and his humbling journey as he faces truths few of us would have the courage to confront.The script is simple, but to the point and the photography is breath-taking in places and suitably claustrophobic in others. The outstanding element for us was the quality of the (for us) mainly unknown actors amongst the more seasoned faces; Peter O’Toole is there as the new tutor determined to open the eyes of his isolated pupil and Joan Chen is the 17-year old Empress eager to please her 12-year old Emperor. The stand-out though was John Lone as the adult Pu Yi. His performance was understated, soulful and suitably constrained but the confusion is always evident on his face. Wherever he happens to be imprisoned at the time; his own palace, with the Japanese, the Russians, finally his own people, he never lets you forget that he is striving to find his place and challenge the system from within.

We didn't know too much about it's contenders in 1987 - but I can say categorically it absolutely deserved to kick "Moonstruck" and it's overwrought arse! Overall, Mat scored it 69 out of 100, Anthony gave it 65/100 and I came out with the highest score at 70/100 – I think in part due to my overall interest in Chinese history which would definitely increase the enjoyment factor for any viewer (I think the salt and pepper squid helped too).