Excellent Film

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2008)

I consider the Last Emperor to be one of the finest movies of all time. Twenty years after its release, it is still as accessible as it was when first released. John Lone acted wonderfully as the adult emperor and Joan Chen played excellently as the empress. The story is very sad, consisting of Pu Yi's unwilling ascent ion to the throne at age three. It is then that he meets the Grand Empress Dowager, who selects him to become the Lord of Ten Thousand Years. The next sixty four years of Pu Yi's life are spent as a puppet emperor, always being manipulated by the people around him. It is unfortunate that Pu Yi never gains control over his own life. In the words of R.J, the young emperor's tutor, "The emperor must be the loneliest boy on earth." We are taken through flashbacks across the emperor's life. He is in communist prison when much of the flashback takes place. Through government "remolding," he is changed and prepared to become a regular citizen. I won't spoil the ending for you, but it puts a good closure to the story. Bravo.