Eric's Beijing Diary

Last night Raymond and I went to the coffee bar near the North Gate and watched Brokeback Mountain on his laptop. Raymond had told me he thought it was a good movie, so I had asked him if he thought the director (Ang Lee) had used the movie to manipulate emotions for the purpose of getting the audience to acquiesce to something they ordinarily would not approve of. I was also somewhat curious because the movie had gotten a good write-up in the China Daily. Odd, because this movie will certainly not be shown in China anytime soon. But the director is from Taiwan, so his award gives "face" to the motherland (although I am not sure he would consider China his motherland).

This is not a good movie. I was perplexed when I heard that Ang Lee had gotten an Oscar for this film. Watching the film, though, I can see how this award could have been given even for a film that is not first-rate. The directing in this film is good. But the picture itself leaves much to be desired. I don't even like to put it that way, because it implies that this movie could be rescued by a few changes. In fact, the entire premise of this movie is flawed. It is a sad story, and most of the sadness comes from the fact that there is no redemption in this story, only a deep, unfulfilled lostness. The closest this movie comes to some sort of healing is at the end, when Ennis is talking to his daughter about her upcoming wedding--there does seem to be some sense of family there. But even there, it is so very fragmented.

I am not much of a movie watcher, but I have seen several of Ang Lee's films (Sense and Sensibility; Eat, Drink, Man, Woman; and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Ang Lee is an artistic director, but there seems to be a consistent lack of moral purpose in his work. This movie is no exception. It is not so much that it glorifies the homosexual lifestyle, because this movie certainly doesn't make one wish for such a life. The problem is that while one could certainly conclude from this movie that such a lifestyle is a pathway to loneliness and despair, there is nothing to prevent the same person from going the opposite direction, and concluding that the homosexual lifestyle ought to be normalized, so that individuals of this bent could have the "happiness" of a relationship.

I was talking with a student the other day who had seen this movie. When I told her how I felt about it, she said, "Oh, you cannot accept this. But I can accept this, so this love is very beautiful." The main problem with this movie is that it seems to be based on the belief that homosexuals are born that way, and therefore have no way out. This attitude of hopelessness precludes the possibility of healing and restoration. This, essentially, is my problem with the film. There is no redemption.

When it comes to Chinese directors, I definitely prefer the Chinese Chinese to the American Chinese. The Cultural Revolution was a dark time, but it produced directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige. Ironically, these directors (especially Zhang Yimou) have been influenced by Ang Lee. When Ang Lee came out with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zhang Yimou decided to start making martial arts films. This, I believe was a step down. I shouldn't say too much until I have seen Hero, but the characters in Zhang Yimou's earlier movies (such as To Live) faced the troubles of life by suffering through them, not by magically flying over them. Modern martial arts movies are basically cartoons.

Chen Kaige has been known as the "bad boy" of Chinese directing, but he did make a movie a few years ago that is an excellent family movie. My general statement about Together is "if you don't like that movie, I don't like you." I would not hesitate to show that film to the youngest of children, and they would almost certainly enjoy it (assuming they could read the subtitles).

I cite these two pictures as examples, because I think they stand out in contrast to the stuff that is getting so much press in the States now. Ang Lee's Eat, Drink, Man, Woman did have more of a family emphasis than his other films, and it does do a good job of showing the fast-paced life of modern Taiwan, but I wouldn't feel quite as comfortable showing it to young children, perhaps for that reason.