I have seen "The Last Emperor" before, but it's a long time ago, and my personal understanding and cognitive ability are limited. In my impression, only Chen Chong's Wanrong is very amazing. Not long ago, I watched "The Last Emperor" again, a three-and-a-half-hour film I actually read it all in one go, and I still don't know what to do. My feelings for Zunlong are even better. At the end, he stepped onto the throne of the emperor and smiled back at the child. He showed a little mystery, a little innocence, and a little cuteness. unforgettable.
"The Last Emperor" has created several firsts in the history of Chinese film and television. After so many years, the story behind the screen is still relished:
The first feature film (not an expansion film) to be shot in the Forbidden City, and it was a scene with the guardrails removed completely.
Bertolucci tells the story of China for the first time (and only time).
A total of 19,000 extras were used in the film.
The crew hired an Italian chef to cook for the foreign members of the crew. He brought a total of 22,000 bottles of Italian mineral water, 450 pounds of Italian coffee, 250 gallons of olive oil and 4,500 pounds of flour.
To play the bannermen, 2,000 soldiers shaved their heads. Each soldier received a bonus of $3.50 for this.
This is the first time a film about China has won an Oscar.
It was the first Best Picture Oscar to be rated PG-13 by the MPAA.
The filming coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's visit to China, but the film crew was given priority by the government, preventing the Queen from visiting the Forbidden City.
Ying Ruocheng, who played the chief officer in the film, was the vice minister of the Chinese Ministry of Culture at the time.
The Last Emperor was filmed in 1987. It was a delicate year. Since then, due to some well-known reasons, the original Xiaoying Bafangke has become a selective absorption. In any case, if the whole Forbidden City is closed for the purpose of filming a movie, even the Queen Elizabeth II of England is not allowed to visit China, it will definitely not happen again.
However, these are only visible from the outside. After all, the internal cause plays a leading role, so let's take a look at its core:
Although "The Last Emperor" is the last generation, it is an emperor after all. In Chinese history books, there is nothing more than a dichotomy in evaluating an emperor, either a wise ruler or a dazed ruler, with no middle ground at all. Puyi would naturally be placed in the category of the faint-hearted emperor. When it comes to him, there is nothing wrong with labelling him as cowardly, faint-hearted, and treasonous. There seems to be no need for such an emperor to write a biography for him at all. What we want to write is about Qin Shihuang, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and emperors like Tang Taizong, and let everyone shed hot tears in their great deeds to create a prosperous world. Occasionally filming two films and TV dramas that are stunned are basically made as patriotic warning and educational films. The purpose is to tell everyone that such people should be nailed to the pillar of shame in history forever.
According to this kind of thinking, the emperors of film and television dramas can only be seen by looking up, or they are cartoon characters who have been caricatured, or they are not filmed as ordinary people. However, "The Last Emperor" is not like this. There is no beautification or devaluation. From the perspective of a bystander, Puyi is described as an ordinary person. He was accidentally born in the emperor's family and ascended the throne inexplicably. , and then carried forward by the trend of the times, constantly moving forward, struggling, floating and changing. Puyi in the film has no great wisdom, his vision is neither deep nor broad, and he favors one over another, bullying the weak and fearing the hard, all written on his face, as ordinary as you and me outside the Forbidden City. In the process of watching the movie, it is easy for everyone to forget that he is an emperor, just like we can easily forget that the emperor is a person first, and an emperor second.
Even though this film has a bit of a Westerner's curiosity about China, it still tells a very Chinese story without too much prejudice or too much praise. Sometimes I feel that director Bernardo Bertolucci is like Johnston, Puyi's teacher, standing beside him, looking at the last emperor, his anger, his helplessness, his pity, his In this way, an extraordinary story is expressed in an ordinary way, adding interest and emotion to the details, and making the key points clear. There is no cold scene in the whole film, and more importantly, it is a story that is too complicated to be added in one go.
The success of "The Last Emperor" is not only that we, the descendants of Yan and Huang, can see it clearly, but also make foreign audiences watch it with relish. To be honest, I can't think of any Chinese director who can make Puyi's life and background so that even foreigners can understand it.
Why can such a Chinese story impress foreigners? Because of the return to human nature.
Only by returning to human nature can we gain an understanding that transcends cultural boundaries, ideologies, and national boundaries.
If you don't spend time on human nature and tell good stories, the so-called cultural export will inevitably become a self-entertainment.
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