The Last Emperor

The Last Emperor illustrates the paradoxical story of Pu Yi, the last ruler of the Chinese Ching Dynasty. At the age of three Pu YI is chosen to rule by Empress Dowager Cixi. Not only is it strange that such young boy is chosen to rule all of China, but as we know from class, he is also from Manchuria. Pu yi is not ethnically chinese, he is Manchurian. That is just the beginnings of Pu Yi's paradoxical existence. When the Republic of China is established in 1912, Pu Yi is locked in the Forbidden City, an emperor that can't leave his palace. Ruler, controller of only his palace, and not even that with respect to the corruption and thievery of the Eunuchs. After the Japanese take over Manchuria and place him as the leader, again he comes to realize he is just playing the part of a pawn controlled by the Japanese. Finally, his re-education, as the communists make him phrase it in Pu Yi's autobiography "from emperor to citizen" is ironic because while Pu Yi was an emperor he was never really the emperor of anything.

I thought the Last Emperor was a well done epic that changed, Pu Yi, a character I thought I never would connect to, into a very sympathetic person. While the cinematography, the picturesque moments, some unfortunately unforgettable were very artistic, the film's choppiness in its flashbacks in time made the film somewhat difficult to follow without knowing the underlying history of the film. But how does it compare to other epictales of people throughout history? In my opinion I didn't think The Last Emperor was as compelling as Lawrence of Arabia or Ghandi, mostly due to the to the movie's chopped up timeline. While the Last Emperor is not quite as good as its nine Academy awards would lead one to believe, it is a compelling and ironic movie that bestows an education upon a movie watcher of a time and culture not generally given very much attention.