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Deng Xiaoping in Films
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2005-1-13 15:03:25
CRIENGLISH.com
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Two films featuring the life of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth. Find out how the two directors who are trying to breathe new life into the form of the revolutionary epic.
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Revolutionary figures have featured heavily in Chinese film since the founding of the People's Republic more than 50 years ago. But times are changing, and while the heroic stories of the Red Army and the Communist Party may have been warmly welcomed by audiences a few decades ago, such films seem out of step with the Chinese youth of today. Two new films mark the 100th anniversary of the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's birth, and they are trying to attract a new generation of Chinese cinema-goers.
 Heroic music, inspirational speeches, and the selfless figure at the center of the screen, serving the people; the standard fare of revolutionary epics.
But public appetite for these kinds of films, where the brightest lights are contrasted by the darkest shadows, is definitely on the wane. Ever since China began its reform and opening up, films on these topics with stereotyped forms have become less and less popular.
So what's on offer during the year of the 100th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's birth? Two films in particular examine early periods of the leader's life. One examines his time spent studying in France as a teenager, and the other looks at the leader during 1928, a year marked by a vicious crackdown on the Communist Party that almost saw it destroyed as a political force in China.
My Days in France, directed by Zhai Junjie, covers the five years Deng spent in France. In 1919, aged only 16 years old, Deng traveled to France to study, and whilst there met many other young Chinese political activists including the young Zhou Enlai, who later became the first Premier of People's Republic of China.
The film's director, Zhai Junjie says he chose to focus on Deng's experience in France because it is under-represented in material about Deng, and also has its light moments.
"The early days of Deng Xiaoping's revolutionary life have still not been represented in Chinese film. So I tried to depict this period with the enthusiasm of youth and an interesting plot."
According to the director, the film combines comic and serious moments along with love, romance and adventure. He cast an amateur actor to play the 16 year-old Deng, and says while shooting the film, he stressed to the young actor to perform naturally, not as a future Chinese leader or a great man, but just like an ordinary student.
"What are 16 year-olds like? Today's youth goes rock climbing and bungee jumping. Young people are vigorous and energetic. And the young Deng Xiaoping was the same. He would stay up all night without sleeping to print pamphlets and then he'd go about distributing them in the morning."
Released just days before My Days in France was another film about the late architect of China's epoch-making reform called Deng Xiaoping, 1928. The film's director, Li Xiepu, describes the film as a thriller. Now if you've seen any Chinese revolutionary films, thriller wouldn't necessarily be the way you'd describe the genre, but the director sticks to his guns. The film is set in 1928, one of the low-points in Chinese Communist history. In the space of just a few months, thousands of party members were arrested and killed. The director says the ever present fear of the period puts the audiences on the edge of their seats.
"In 1928, the Chinese Communist Party suffered the most serious suppression and all its activities went underground. Deng Xiaoping once commented on that period saying ˇ®At that time it is no exaggeration to say that we were carrying out revolution with our heads in our hands.' So history provided us with good material for this film."
As the Chinese film industry gets more market oriented, profitability has become the most important measure of success. The film's director Li Xiepu says his film is no different.
"Every film must take the market into consideration. Films about revolutionary figures should combine art with history to make the film more enjoyable for the audience."
My Days in France director Zhai Junjie, who has several revolutionary films to his name already, thinks that in terms of structure, his new film is a step forward for Chinese cinema.
"The Chinese film industry is at a key moment of its history. Do we need to follow strict chronological order to tell the story of major historical events and important historical figures? There's a famous American film called ˇ®Patton' after General George Patton. No historical events are clearly portrayed, but it was very popular because it focused on showing the personality of the figure. So maybe we can learn from that kind of film."
Director Zhai says all film makers working on historical projects must respect historical truth. He says that as long as artistic impulses are guided by faithfulness to the truth, any experiment should be welcomed. And he says only innovation will allow the Chinese film industry to grow.
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