MAO'S LAST DANCER
TRAILER
Mao's last dancer is a romance and tragedy movie which is based on a true story.
The movie is centered around a character called Li Cinxin, a boy who grew up in shang dong province and taken to beijing to practice ballet. Teacher Chan was Li's ballet instructor until he was taken away after objecting to enter the political ballet which the government proposed of. Ben was a US ballet instructor of the houston ballet company. Ben was also the person who brings Li out of china. Of course, there are other charactors but these are the main influencers of the movie.
The movie starts with Li walking out of the immigration center and being greeted by people as he goes to ben's (who is introduced later) house. He has various flashbacks explaining his past. During one, his father mentions a story about a frog in a well. The frog only lives in the well and thought that was the whole world. One day, another frog came near the well and told the frog all about the outside world. After hearing this story, the frog went out from the well and was amazed by the huge world.
This is a perfect story that fits with Li's situation. Li struggles to do ballet and ben, the toad, tells him about the outside world, America. The movie is set in many places such as Shang Dong, Beijing, Texas and Washington D.C. In Beijing, his instructor, Teacher Chan is taken away by the government but before, he teaches Li to dance ballet with his heart and leaves him a ballet video. This also seems to influence his worry for his family after defecting from china.
So you must be wondering how he defected from china. During his stay in the US, he ends up falling in love with a girl. He marries her and of course, it causes problems for the Chinese government. He is blackmailed that he will never see his family again and will suffer nightmares from that.
Personally, the movie was a heart-touching tragedy which adds effect because it is real. The last words on screen clean up the story nicely and I wouldn't change anything in it.
I like how you put interesting things in your blog, such as the game and the fish thing.
ReplyDeleteYour essay is quite organized and has your opinion. I like your link between the 'frog in the well' story and Li's situation.
I like the way you answered the questions in paragraphs and how you have a short and a clear summary of the movie. I also like how you had your opinion for each paragraph/statement.
ReplyDeleteI believe this movie review is too short, but you nicely summarized the movie. But you should have written your opinions about Li's decision to stay in the USA. Except that part, I liked your movie review, especially the way you linked the story "a frog in a well" with Li's situation.
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