A masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2005)

This is one of the best epic all the time. A brilliant costume and cinematographic technique. It's about last emperor of China Pu Yi who is always live in a horrifying spiritual durance.
I heard of this motion picture many years ago. About ten years or more ago, Joan Chen was a widely known star in China for this picture. Almost every Chinese know it. However, I never saw it before last afternoon. The reason is I'm afraid of I'm too young to get the point of the thick history. So I saw it when I'm sure I have been up to understand history enough.
BTW, "10,000 years" never means "he was the king of 10,000 years", that's a wish. All people wish their emperor could live forever, even 10,000 years(the brothers of the emperor called 1,000 years). Everyone must say it when he or she meet the emperor. That's the rule of each dynastic royalty never change till QING dynasty vanished away. I seem to pity Pu Yi throughout I experience the picture. He was an emperor without any power and enough space. The most unfortunate is he never escape from an invisible cage. At first, he was imprisoned by warlord in Forbidden City and then by Japan military till been a criminal of betrayed motherland. He wants to be a true emperor, he never been released by his soul and ambition, eventually makes him as betrayer and totally puppet. What a tragic character! It looks as if it not easy to be the last emperor.
Overall, it deserves nine Academy Awards. Incidental music is impressive, also are all performances.