A Last Tango in China? Last Emperor ***1/2

Rating: 9/10 (19 March 2011)

If only they had begun this picture without the first half-hour to 40 minutes. As a young child, the picture is not the greatest. We don't have to see the feces left by his royal highness at 3.
The picture comes alive when our little emperor attains adulthood and things begin to happen in history. His collusion with the Japanese government sets off quite a life. John Lone, as the adult emperor, gives a very compelling performance, as does his neglected wife, the unhappy Joan Chen.
His life in a Chinese Communist prison after the wall is well done. We see an emperor reduced to humiliation in cleaning toilets and living a very hard life following a 10 year confinement.
The picture well shows the Chinese cultural aspects around 1903 and the period of the Kuomintang circa 1911. In retaining the title of emperor, Piu (Lone) allowed himself to be a mere puppet of the Japanese, and when he realized this, it was far too late to do anything.