Sasha Braus Reviews

As a series of beautifully ornate costumes, moody cinematography, exotic locations, and observation of shifting tastes – politically, culturally – in various eras, The Last Emperor is a grand statement. A movie in big emblazoned letters, a movie that rests in the truest sense of the term cinematic, but it’s a pity that there’s no good script to go along with all of the detailed craft and pretty images on display. As an epic, it has more in common with the bloated likes of Gandhi than it does Lawrence of Arabia.

The story follows around a footnote of an emperor; he was crowned when he was two and abdicated the throne at seven, through the transition from dynasties to Communism, from feudalism to a revolution. But it never engages our emotions or provides a rooting interest in the main character. It offers up a powerless character, one with no true identity, and watches as he stumbles through various ideologies, frequently as a mere pawn in a grander scheme.

Bernardo Bertolucci is a great director, and he bathes The Last Emperor in rich colors. The fact that he was allowed to film inside of the Forbidden City makes the film have a very authentic flavor, and provides a unique setting for various events to take place in. But Bertolucci isn’t much of a writer, and The Last Emperor has a problem maintaining interest and momentum as it goes on, and on, and on. Bertolucci co-wrote the script, and the pacing problems cause the film to at times feel incredibly sluggish or too remote to draw us in. And this, I believe, is the reason why a film can win 9 Oscars and have an indifferent reputation. A film from the man who gave us Last Tango in Paris should be a cause for debate, but Emperor is stately, lacking in the unflinching emotions and deep connections of his other works. Sure, it deserved the Oscars it won for Cinematography, Art Direction-Set Decoration, Costume Design, Original Score, and Director, but Picture, Editing, and Adapted Screenplay are three awards too much.

Emperor Pu Yi: This isn't a school; it's a prison. A real prison.

He was the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, the absolute monarch of China. He was born to rule a world of ancient tradition. Nothing prepared him for our world of change. The story of the final Emperor of China.

John Lone: Emperor Pu Yi / Henry

One could easily state Bernardo Bertolucci creation of a masterpiece; regarding an era of history that would definitely change the relationship of nations throughout the era forever. That he did it with such artistic flair and factual film-making is to say his success was close to the divine heights of cinematic bliss.
You may conclude that would be a quite accurate statement about The Last Emperor(1987), especially for American film-making whom greatly capture a time and place without having their own agendas in translating history.



To amass such a huge cast today would put many studios into immediate expenditures and losses, much less movie-producers. Every scene is detailed to utter faultless finesse; the reign of the last emperor of China wasn't that long ago, so there were unlimited sources to be utilized and put forth. That they were made available and especially shooting on location in The Forbidden City with the approval of the communist government of Peking in the 1980s is even more fantastical. After centuries of the Qing emperors' rulings, for this gigantic nation to change its manner of governing is mind blowing. One would assume China would just as soon deny that year of its history, mirroring Japan denying a fair few if not all, Asian atrocities.

''The Emperor has been a prisoner in his own palace since the day that he was crowned, and has remained a prisoner since he abdicated. But now he's growing up, he may wonder why he's the only person in China who may not walk out of his own front door. I think the Emperor is the loneliest boy on Earth.''

The Last Emperor is an epic that delves into the seas of time and history addressing the ensuing effects it has on a being and his culture as time transitions through his lifetime. The Last Emperor of the Qing dynasty, Pu-Yi, was appointed in 1909 at the age of three and due to his youth ended up being a puppet to his administration. Bertolucci successfully shows us a young man who while understandably spoilt by many luxuries of monarchy, is in truth, a tender hearted, independent thinker, whom is passionate about his homeland(Manchuria) while also having a ravenous desire for experiencing life in the outside world.
His caged lifestyle in the Forbidden City (Beijing) is definitely a major contributing factor in his need to escape his royal prison. From his infancy the director takes us through a chain of historical events that ultimately lead to Pu-Yi being an ordinary man (we know this from the beginning, however flashbacks explain his situation at the start). However, it is not the desired lifestyle that he sought as an Emperor in childhood.

The Last Emperor is breathtaking in its cinematography, scope and vision thus Bertolucci's direction results in being flawless like a newly cut diamond. Upon research, droves of criticism was directed at his film 1900(1976) due to its sheer length. The Last Emperor runs in at 215 minutes(DIRECTORS CUT) and barring 10 minutes of a marriage related scene, it never relinquishes or refrains from storytelling and bringing history to life. Bertolucci seamlessly interweaves the flashbacks with Pu-Yi's situation in post-WWII China by providing us with a real life tragedy that epitomizes human weaknesses, vices, love and loyalty. Here is a film that is a true story but goes beyond mere narration or simple depiction means; it is a three and a half hour, non-stop attention grasping journey through the spectrum of humanity that defines our lifetime through the eyes of an unfortunate soul who was a victim of circumstances like many are. Any questions that the viewer will have concerning an event in the plot will be immediately answered through the rich tapestry that Bertolucci shows us when depicting Pu-Yi's imperial life.

Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: Words are important.
Pu Yi, at 15: Why are words important?
Reginald Fleming 'R.J.' Johnston: If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.

On a technical note, the acting in this film is brilliant. John Lone deserved at least an Oscar nomination for best actor due to his seamless portrayal of Pu-Yi. He makes his portrayal of a 21 - 60 year old Pu-Yi seem like an effortless feat achievable by no other. Through his performance the audience feels an even greater compassion for the last emperor as we come across a man who despite all the hardships he endured was very compassionate and soft centered underneath layers of enigmatic stillness. The sheer down to earth nature of his character as a 55-60 year old who walks with a tired smile, forever accompanied by his loving brother, is a testament to Lone's ability to portray any age and move the audience.
Once again, it takes a Hailey's comet like event for the Academy to nominate someone from the eastern world (or non-British, non-American when it comes to best actor). The rest of the cast is also brilliant barring Ryuichi Sakamoto (who portrays the one-armed Masahiko Amakasu) whom, for the most part, presents us with a classic display of Japanese overacting. Although I wouldn't call it overacting in a Kurasawa-esque/Japanese film environment, it becomes overtly amusing in a production such as this.

The film won a number of Oscars, including the awards for Best Picture and Best Director.
What surprised me most is that it did not receive a single Oscar nomination in the acting categories, although in my view it could have had three or four, Best Actor for John Lone as Pu Yi himself, Best Actress for Joan Chen as his tragic, drug-addicted Empress Wan Jung, and Best Supporting Actor for Peter O'Toole as Pu Yi's Scottish tutor Reginald Johnstone (and possibly also for Ying Ruocheng as the prison governor). Around the time this film was released, the lovely Joan Chen was widely tipped to become a major Hollywood star; that she has never really did achieve this state might suggest that leading roles for Oriental actresses are as hard to come by as they were in the days of Anna May Wong.

The Governor: You are responsible for what you do! All your life you thought you were better than everyone else. Now you think you're the worst of all!
Emperor Pu Yi: [sighs] Why can you not leave me alone? You saved my life to make me a puppet in your own play. You saved me because I am useful to you.
The Governor: Is that so terrible? To be useful?

So ultimately what does Pu Yi contribute to his life? His is littered with the bodies of those that have come into contact with him, a morbid graveyard created from deaths that did not come from his hands, but from his ego and his power.
My inability to either love or hate him results in making him quite human and understandable. If he had been blatantly set up as an obvious protagonist or antagonist, the movie would have been flat, shallow and ineffective. Humans are hard things to find in movies these days, and here is a rare opportunity to catch a sight of one. Hats off to Bertolucci for such an intelligent film and a journey of a lifetime that needs to be witnessed on numerous occasions.

''Open the door! Open the door! Open the door!... Open the door!''