A very good movie

Since this movie has a really solid reputation, I was really eager to check it out. Well, I wasn't disappointed and, after each movie I watch from this director, I understand more and more why Zhang Yimou was considered as one of the greatest directors in the 90's. Indeed, it was such a fascinating tale which was, at the same time, actually pretty simple and yet it was still told on a epic scale and this combination was quite amazing. Basically, it was the story of an average  family trying to simply live but you had to witness them experiencing the impact of some major events on their lives through decades of Chinese history as a background. You could argue that it did feel like a Communist propaganda film at times, especially in the beginning, when the main character found salvation only when he became poor after losing all his fortune. As far as I was concerned, I actually did like how it showed that wealth is not important after all. Anyway, if you would think that this movie was too sympathetic to the Communist ideology, you would be mistaken as this movie has always been banned in China. Indeed, even though  they displayed some positive aspects about the Chinese revolution, it was still far from being a perfect situation and, above all, you could feel the constant fear of the main characters of being imprisoned or even executed for just saying something wrong. Concerning Gong Li, she gave another really strong performance and it is a shame that all the movies she made in the US and outside China afterwards turned out to be rather disappointing. Anyway, to conclude, it was a strong drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

8/10