Beautiful Cinematography, Unfortunate Nationalistic Propaganda

Rating: 2/10 (3 April 2007)

This movie is very unfortunate, especially when you have loved the director's work from way before he succumbed to the need to have his own countrypeople support/have access to his works.
It is unfortunate because it is so technically flawless and artistically meritorious but its underlying spirit is corrupt.
A very little background knowledge of Chinese propaganda and nationalism will colour the viewing of this movie very differently. The fate of the numerous minorities in China (the most visible being the Uighurs and the Tibetans), as well as ethnic Chinese people who are persecuted for other reasons makes the stance of this movie pernicious.
That the sacrifice of many individuals (by choice or not) is always better for the collective? To make such a visually-arresting and well-acted film in this day and age, given the mass violation of human rights by the Chinese government, and to attempt to put such "message" under the banner of "culture" and "history" is abominable. The Chinese people deserve better than this sentimental, manipulative nationalism.
The stance is so central to the story that you cannot separate it from its artistic and technical worth. Watch this film and keep you finger on the real pulse - not the superficial one.