"The Last Emperor" is the first Western film to be shot in the Forbidden City with the permission of the Chinese government. This is an unprecedented opening of the country in the history of New China, welcoming the behavior of Western artists and audiences. This is undoubtedly a huge progress in the field of cultural exchanges.
There are three points that echo back and forth in the movie:
The first place was that his nanny was suddenly sent out of the palace, and Puyi's psychological and physical attachment to her was instantly cut off. Pu Yi screamed the name of the nurse while running, and was eventually locked inside the imperial city. The failure of "opening the door" this time was the first lesson of the Qing Dynasty elder's growth to the young emperor. He tried to withdraw his immature heart from his dependence on breast milk, and taught the emperor the taste of growth with the pain of separation.
In the second place, after Puyi's biological mother committed suicide by taking opium outside the city, he came to the city gate and hoped to go out to visit. Through the guards, Pu Yi saw the lively streets and crowds outside. He deeply felt his trapped situation, so he shouted to the guards "Open the door! Open the door!" But the authority of the emperor was useless here. Anger and sadness flooded into my heart, and the young Pu Yi slammed the pet white mouse in his arms to death on the vermilion gate. The little white mouse was like his symbol, trapped in the sachet all day long and could not get out; at this moment, he shattered the prisoner's head, as if he had made an extreme end to the trapped self in his mind.
The third cry for "opening the door" occurred in the Puppet Manchukuo a few decades later. After giving birth to a child, his wife Wanrong was forcibly transferred to a lunatic asylum by the Japanese. The descendants of the royal family were poisoned and the queen faced persecution. Pu Yi flew downstairs after learning, and followed to the gate. History is staged once again, and Vermilion's gate is closed again. Facing the life and death separation from her family, Pu Yi was overwhelmed in her heart, but she just tremblingly said to the guard, "Open the door--" and gave up. This scene was too familiar to Pu Yi, and it was so familiar to him that he was scared. He knew that no matter how fierce he struggled, this closed door would not be opened to him. He is just a puppet emperor inside the city wall, he can't even control the power to open and close the door.
Puyi's life was a failure, but his life is a great warning to future generations. It is very gratifying to have such a documentary that abandons the cultural gap and the ideological gap!
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