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the rise and fall of a family in Shanghai. Once wealthy and capitalist, the family unraveled during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. Their home, once a French concession mansion, was converted into a multi-family dwelling. Years later, the matriarch of the family announces that she is dying. When her four grown children return, it becomes the first time the family has been under one roof in decades.

A family still feeling the effects of the Cultural Revolution in China

This movie provides a wonderful depiction of the effects of the cultural revolution on modern Chinese families and it is interesting to observe how the siblings interact and how these interactions are based on their different lives. One lives with her mother and works in a fish factory. One works in the United States and has lost a lot of her Chinese identity. Another sibling is a successful lawyer, but his home life is a wreck. His wife wants a divorce and his son is doing badly in school. The third works out in Mongolia and wishes for his granddaughter to have an education in Shanghi, unlike his children. All of these people gather as their mother is dying and even though they are only separated by 10 years their experiences show the changes that have occurred in China during the few years of the Cultural Revolution. The film is built on the interactions of this family as they gather to see their mother die and the acting is very well done. The director was at the screening I went to and told the audience that the Chinese film board did not censor this film. That was curious because it&#39;s depiction of the Cultural Revolution is definitely negative. It does not use flashbacks, instead focusing on the stories characters tell and focusing on the reactions and facial expressions. I would definitely recommend this film as an excellent depiction of how the turbulent political history effects present day Chinese Society.

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Meili Shanghai

A family still feeling the effects of the Cultural Revolution in China

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