Farewell my Concubine
Farewell My Concubine is a movie that represented two films at once. This is where it represented the half-century of the modern Chinese history and a drama regarding the backstage at the well known Peking Opera. The movie used two opera stars to create the view of modern China which seemed not logical. The main actors of the movie are Lislie Cheung who is acting as Cheng Dieyi and Zhang Fengyi acting as Duan Xiaolou. The role played by Cheng Dieyi is that of the concubine in the famous traditional opera while Duan Xiaolou plays the role of the king. Throughout the movie, these roles are well represented while their personal relationships are barely affected by the World War II, the Cultural Revolution as well as the communist takeover.
The director of Farewell My Concubine is Chen Keige who has great knowledge of Cultural Revolution. Chen was born in the year 1952 as a son of a filmmaker. By 1969, Chen had been sent to do manual labor in the rural area where he gained knowledge on the Peking Opera’s youth training programs. Before Chen joined film school, he had participated in Red Guard and had once become a soldier. Chen at some point accused his father publicly which had made him guilty in public. This movie depicted the suicide that took place in 1977 and homosexuality that took place in China which made it be banned from China. The storyline of the movie “Farewell My Concubine” was greatly appreciated in Cannes where it won the Grand Prix but banned severally in China. The storyline of the movie is the modern China where it depicts how it feels to live in China during that period.
The two actors in the movie who are Cheng and Duan were familiar to the people of Pekings due to their actions while acting. They both met as boys in an opera school where Dieyi was the son of a prostitute who dumped him at the school as a way to get him out of the brothel. Cheng is seen to make unwise decisions in the movie during the Japanese occupation which makes him charged for collaborating with the enemy. The relationship of the two actors in the movie is unsettled where Cheng is seen to have a great love for Xiaolou. Xiaolou being the king is not interested in the feelings where he eventually marries Juaxin who acts as a beautiful prostitute in the movie. The position of Juaxin is played by Gong Li who is Chinese actress. The action of Xiaolou leaves Dieyi feeling resentful and jealous, but Juaxin stands strong as a hero to both the actors.
When looking for personal opinions about the history of the movie, it is clear that the China people did not appreciate the movie as it depicted the homosexuality and immorality part of the country. This is seen where the two main actors are having an unsettled relationship where Cheng have feelings for Xiaolou. The immorality in the movie comes in where Juaxin was a well-known prostitute yet modern China have nothing to object to such cases. The actors in the movie have tried to show how the modern China society and covers the period between 1925 and 1977. The movie reveals the emotional and sexual development of Dieyi who was the concubine of the king. Dieyi plays the role pf women in the society where he confidently revealed his feelings to the King. It shows that either as a concubine or as a king, one has responsibilities that are associated with the position.