In my opinion, this movie is the best for teaching Chinese history and showing people's life from 1940's to 1970's in China. The movie uses one family's story to reflect the entire Chinese society during this historical period. It covers the history of the anti-japanese war(1938-1945), the civil war(1945-1949), the land reform, the great leap forward, and the cultural revolution.
The main character--Fugui used to be a rich and spoiled son who gambles and loses the last mansion the family had, saved his life because of losing his mansion. He and his family went through drastic life changes along with the entire China. His two children both ended losing their lives due to the hard social and politicl situation at the time.
Certain scenes in this movie might be considered too graphic such as the death of the son and the daughter which showed quite a lot blood. Check it out, I think this movie overall had very high educational value for many subject areas.
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活着 to live
08/14/2011 08:32 AM
#1
活着 to live
Yes, To Live is a great film to show the turmoils in 20th century China. There are comic moments intersperse throughout the film filled with tragedies. Students love the film. Here are some links that provide some helpful guides and lessons:
http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum210/coursepack/ToLive.htm
http://www.aems.illinois.edu/downloads/To_Live.pdf
Thanks, Ying and Tony! I am always looking for films or film clips that I can use in class. To Live sounds totally appropriate for the classroom. Thanks for the supporting materials, too!
Thank you Tony, I selected this link to review the film To Live, and was intrigued by the store of the Director of the film, Zhang Yimou. Yimou was in high school when the Cultural Revolution broke out and the review would work well for showing the life of the “forgotten generation” from a political and cultural point of view. Even more interesting to me was the story of his struggles and triumph to become a photographer and film maker. Yimou’s story will work well for our photo and video classes.
Tony, the comprehensive lesson plans for To Live will prove a valuable resource for our department. The procedures and handouts for before, during and after the film will prove excellent resources. I was excited about the story of the film maker Zhang Yimou for the previous link and this resource adds the dimension of reviewing the film through a film makers eyes. Thank you for the pdf link.