The creators of The First Emperor were clearly intent on sharpening the film’s (already pretty clear) political stance. “Qin Shi Huangdi was pretty much like Mao Zedong,” Tan Dun told Martin Steinberg of The Associated Press. “He unified China. He made the language, made the measuring system, made the currency. … But on the other hand, imagine how many other kingdoms’ tribes he wiped out, how many other languages he destroyed, and the culture and books burned by him.”

That’s the dilemma The First Emperor summons the passion to explore: the uneasy, sometimes fatal relationship between art and government, the composer and the tyrant. You can expect that of Zhang Yimou, who suffered serious censorship restrictions on many of his early films, but who is now in charge of the entertainment for the 2008 summer Olympic games in Beijing. In this sense, even those he has staged it half a world away, The First Emperor is a risky statement, a declaration of war ” a war of nerve ” against the Emperor, the Chairman or the censor. [Full Text]

“Hero,” Zhang Yimou’s first martial arts movie which is also based on the story of Qin Shi Huangdi, came out four years ago. The following excerpts are from Chinese movie critic Cui Weiping’s recent blog post, translated by CDT. Professor Cui teaches at the Beijing Film Academy:

On at least three levels, “The Hero” violated the “consensus” of today’s Chinese audience. First, ordinary people’s common judgment, which has lasted for thousands of years, that Qin Shi Huangdi was a tyrant, and that tyrants should be condemned. Although the aspiration for a benevolent ruler implied in this view is still a longing under autocratic rule, the condemnation of tyranny is universal. However, the movie “Hero” is intended to reverse the pubic view towards Qin Shi Huangdi, and goes against the sentiment of the audience. “Hero” is based on a stance that reverses the judgment towards tyrants. It takes the perspective not of the majority but of a tiny group of people.

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Read the rest of Zhang Yimou’s Qin Shi Huangdi Complex – Cui Weiping (179 words)

© Xiao Qiang for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cui Weiping, hero, history, tan dun, The First Emperor, Zhang Yimou
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