d95112
This film starts with the 1911 xinhai revolution and quickly goes over the chaos of the early republic and its trouble with Yuan shi-kai. The May 4th movement is portrayed as the touchstone to the founding of the communist party (certainly a lot of the future leaders of the party started getting involved in politics at this time). This could have been a much longer film covering more in depth coverage of the personalities of this time and still have my interest because of my study of Chinese history. For a general audience this film may have too many characters they know nothing about and find confusing. Even more so if you are not Chinese or a student of this time in history. How many people know about the Japanese occupation of the Shandong peninsula and its impact on Chinese thinking about the west? If you do have some knowledge of the people and time in China during the years covered in this film you will enjoy this movie.
Crveni Krst
Before deciding to watch "Beginning Of The Great Revival", I read some of the comments here on IMDb. Actually, I was quite stunt that a motion title released only recently had so many reviews, most of them filled with hatred and wrath. Something was out of place, and after seeing the movie itself, it's quite obvious what's at stake.The first an most mentioned fact is the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. I guess that was pretty obvious from the first title in the movie itself, and all those who found this to be insulting could just switch off the player or leave the cinema. If something is dedicated to the milestone of CCP, it's most probable that the content will be affirmative towards it.Next big argument is "the lack of story". This is often heard from people who have no knowledge of Chinese history or China what so ever. True, this is not a classical shallow saccharine polluted Hollywood style story, where everything has to be chewed and re branded, so the average redneck Joe with 10 bux in his pocket could get it into his head. "Beginning Of The Great Revival" is a semi documentary film, where the basic idea consisted of connecting certain historical turn points in modern Chinese history. Have the scriptwriters manage to make that connection well is a different question, since Chinese history in the first two decades of the 20th century was violent and turbulent, as the old empire collapsed and a new republic became to exist together with the Koumintang. That struggle continued in blood for the next 20 years, following Japan's invasion, and later a civil war between Communists and Chang Kai Shek. The story may not be fluent, but it can hardly be when so many historical moments have to be packed in a brief 2 hours. Is it historically partial? It undoubtedly is, since the Communist prevailed, and history is written by those who win. I guess Lincoln would be depicted as a thug in modern cinematography if South did rise again... Yet another problem with some viewers (though I suspect they managed to last the whole movie with attention) is Mao. You may like him or not, still he remains an important players in modern Chinese history as one of the CCP founders. Actually, his figure was not the main character in the movie, but I guess his plain appearance and mention is enough to hurt someone's feelings.This movie is widely criticized by those, whose hate is more or less directed towards communism in general and modern China, without much insight in history or reality. It's been a long time since I've seen so much negative energy directed towards a movie, and reading such comments actually entertains me. Funny...Concerning my point of view, I think the movie is decent. Not great, brilliant or unforgettable, but plain decent. Actors did a fair job, visual experience was up to the task, and the historical moments were brought to life in a depicting manner. Does "Beginning Of The Great Revival" deserve 10 stars? By all means no. Still, I decided to give this rating only in defiance towards haters who hardly see beyond their short noses.BTW, even with all Maoist propaganda, "Beginning Of The Great Revival" is more historically accurate and pleasant to watch than for instance that "The Kennedys" piece of sludge.
kwailo_john
i note with sadness that every review here is from the USA and appears to be a political statement and nothing to do with the movie per se. statements such as "china is a military state" are pathetic when you consider the aggressiveness of Americans and their military state!where are the comments on acting, cinematography, musical score, etc....i do not think in many cases a westerner can judge a foreign movie if you are going to be so biased about that countries' political system!i do not see Americans lambasting their pathetic greedy monetary system that has enveloped the world in GFC in movies about some American hero in any movie about the stock exchange for example......go live in china for a year or more before you critisise!not such a bad movie..... acting passable...story line is montage and example only for reminder to the people as to the origins of cpc.
jay_yan
This movie was shot in China, still firmly controlled by Chinese Communist Party. Of course it will contain the story told by CCP. Undoubtedly it contains endless speeches to show how necessary and great CCP was. So please forget about that part. If you see the movie to look for art, drama, affection, of course you will be disappointed.But what makes this movie different from the other Chinese propaganda movies is its huge cast. There are tons of famous Chinese, including Hong Kong and oversea Chinese, actors and actresses. You can never see so many stars in one movie, other than Jian Guo Da Ye, also produced by the same producer with an equally huge cast two years ago. The fun of watching this movie is to "count stars", instead of follow its boring and revisioned story.
