Life of a Puppet

Rating: 8/10 (19 October 2005)

"The Last Emperor" is an example of what might be called the "epic biopic", a filmed biography made on the grand scale. Other examples of this genre are David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi", but there is an important difference between Bertolucci's film and either of those examples. T.E. Lawrence and Mahatma Gandhi were historically important figures who, in their different ways, both played important active roles in the history of the twentieth century. Bertolucci's subject, the Chinese Emperor Pu Yi was, despite his elevated birth, an entirely passive figure. (It is perhaps incorrect to call him the "last Emperor" as the title was briefly revived for a few months in 1915-16 under General Yuan Shih-Kai). The word most commonly applied to him, in connection with his controversial role as figurehead of the Japanese-sponsored state of Manchukuo between 1931 and 1945, was "puppet", but Bertolucci shows that he was a puppet for virtually the whole of his life. First he was the puppet of the Court officials who proclaimed him Emperor as a young child, then after the revolution of 1911 of the warlord-dominated Republican government which for its own political reasons allowed him to continue to live in the Forbidden City in Peking, maintaining a Court and the style of a monarch, then of the Japanese and finally of the Communist regime which sought to make propaganda out of his supposed transformation into a model citizen.
Pu Yi was not only a puppet, he was also for most of his life a prisoner, either in the literal or the metaphorical sense. He was literally imprisoned between 1945 and 1950, first by the Soviets and then by the Chinese Communists, but at all times his freedom was restricted by those controlling him. One of the most memorable scenes in the film comes when the young Pu Yi attempts to leave the Forbidden City to attend his mother's funeral but is prevented from doing so by palace guards who slam the gates shut. A deliberately similar scene occurs later in the film when he, now ruler of Manchukuo, is prevented from leaving his palace to visit his wife in hospital by his Japanese handlers.
Despite Bertolucci's own Marxist sympathies and the fact that the film was dependent on the goodwill of the Chinese authorities, it does not really try for a consistent political interpretation of Chinese history, but concentrates very much on the character of Pu Yi himself. While in prison, Pu Yi complains to the prison governor that he is only being kept alive because he is useful to the Communists. The governor, presented as a relatively decent man despite the totalitarian nature of the regime he serves, replies "Is that such a terrible thing, to be useful?" This is meant as a kindly rebuke, but it begs the questions "useful to whom?" and "useful for what purpose?" Certainly, to have served the interests of two brutal regimes, the Japanese militarists and Mao's Communists, is nothing to be proud of, but at least Pu Yi's talent for making himself useful meant that he managed to survive (when many did not) during some of the most turbulent epochs of China's history.
The film is not told as a straightforward linear narrative; it starts with Pu Yi being handed over by his Soviet captors to their Chinese allies in 1950, and continues by inter-cutting scenes set in prison with flashbacks telling the story of his previous life. This technique enables Bertolucci to contrast the austerity of Pu Yi's captivity (although I would agree with the previous reviewer who pointed out that life in a Maoist labour camp would in all probability have been much harsher than shown here) with the magnificent, if empty, splendour of life in the Manchu court and his decadent, luxurious life after his expulsion from the Forbidden City.
The film won a number of Oscars, including the awards for "Best Picture" and "Best Director". I am not sure that it was the best film of 1987 (my personal preference would have been for John Boorman's "Hope and Glory"), but it is nevertheless an excellent one. What surprised me was that it did not receive a single Oscar nomination in the acting categories, although in my view it could have had three or four, Best Actor for John Lone as Pu Yi himself, Best Actress for Joan Chen as his tragic, drug-addicted Empress Wan Jung, and Best Supporting Actor for Peter O'Toole as Pu Yi's Scottish tutor Reginald Johnstone (and possibly also for Ying Ruocheng as the prison governor). Around the time this film was released, the lovely Joan Chen was widely tipped to become a major Hollywood star; that she has never really done so might suggest that leading roles for Oriental actresses are as hard to come by as they were in the days of Anna May Wong.
If I have a criticism of the film, it was that it did not explain things enough and expected its audience to have a wide knowledge of Chinese history. My comments are based upon the 160 minute version; I have not seen the 219 minute director's cut, although I would be very interested to do so. A running-time in excess of 3Â½ hours might well be justified if one's subject is the history in the twentieth century of the world's most populous nation. Bertolucci has made some horribly boring films, such as "Last Tango in Paris" and "The Sheltering Sky", but "The Last Emperor" is a fascinating one. 8/10