Reversal Of Fortune

Rating: Null/10 (8 September 2011)

Reversal Of Fortune I saw this film when it was first released on video in 1988 and its power has never diminished.
It is very easy to see how this won NINE Academy Awards including "Best Picture." It visually stuns the senses. It's important to remember that in 1987 the communists were only beginning to open up China's national treasures to the western tourists. Unless you were a student of Chinese history, for most of the audience this was their first look at the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City restored to its 1908 glory was itself deserving of "Best Picture." Any film set almost entirely the Forbidden City is truly bold. There is no comparison for a more powerful visual setting. The fact that they filmed in the real palace and not just a Hollywood set is overpowering.
Bernardo Bertolucci uses his visual masterpiece to emphasize the dramatic reversals of fortune in Pu Yi's life. Arguably more of a reversal than almost any historical figure.
Bertolucci uses flashbacks to visually contrast Pu Yi's pathetic existence as a political prisoner of the communists in the 1950s to his awesome childhood being crowned the sole ruler of 500,000,000 people at age 3 and being raised in the splendor of the Forbidden City.
Only a few years later Pu Yi would find himself an exile in his own royal palace during the Chinese democratic and nationalist revolutions. He had no power, no talents, no friends or family. As he says in the film. "The Forbidden City had become a theatre without an audience. Yet the actors remained on stage only to steal the set piece by piece." When he asks, "Am I emperor?" a eunuch answers, "In the Forbidden City your majesty will always be emperor." A harsh reality meaning "No." The only thing worse than being a prisoner of the Forbidden City was the being forced to leave it. With no out a home Pu Yi fled towards China's worst enemy during the time, the Japanese whom also held him captive for their own purposes.
The film does not portray Pu Yi as good or evil, smart or stupid, but just one of the most tragic figures of history. We see him as an innocent toddler without any power or love in his life. Sadly this never changed.
The often overlooked aspects of the film are the superb acting and dramatic musical score. John Lone is amazing throughout. Ric Young as the communist interrogator is very memorable and it's easy to see why he's always cast as an Asian villain. "It is not an accusation! You are a traitor! You are a collaborator! And you are a counter revolutionary!" Yikes! I can even remember his frightening performance from 1988!