I usually never write reviews but this time I felt it was my obligation to warn people who want to watch it to learn about the revolution.
I had to study for an exam on Chinese history and to take a break I decided to watch this movie to help me link the chronology of events together, and it was a bad idea... It actually confused me more.
I found the movie OK (nothing mind-blowing but not a waste of my time either, the battle scenes were very well shot and the dialogue engaging) but it seemed like all the events I had learned about were scattered among the movie. For example by watching this movie one would think that empress Cixi (played magnificently by Joan Chen) was alive during the time of the revolution, while she actually died in 1908.
Then again I wasn't able to translate entirely the big texts in Chinese that linked one scene to the other so maybe I missed out on something there I don't know.
I don't think the movie is biased, in my opinion it's actually one of the few history movies that (even if confusingly) depicts the events for what they were. Shikai was incredibly corrupt (in the future would even declare himself the new emperor); Cixi kinda cared for the destiny of China; the Western world DID see China as a cake to split, saying otherwise would be ignoring the history of the time; and not in any particular order but that's how Yatsen led the revolution...simple as that.
I had to study for an exam on Chinese history and to take a break I decided to watch this movie to help me link the chronology of events together, and it was a bad idea... It actually confused me more.
I found the movie OK (nothing mind-blowing but not a waste of my time either, the battle scenes were very well shot and the dialogue engaging) but it seemed like all the events I had learned about were scattered among the movie. For example by watching this movie one would think that empress Cixi (played magnificently by Joan Chen) was alive during the time of the revolution, while she actually died in 1908.
Then again I wasn't able to translate entirely the big texts in Chinese that linked one scene to the other so maybe I missed out on something there I don't know.
I don't think the movie is biased, in my opinion it's actually one of the few history movies that (even if confusingly) depicts the events for what they were. Shikai was incredibly corrupt (in the future would even declare himself the new emperor); Cixi kinda cared for the destiny of China; the Western world DID see China as a cake to split, saying otherwise would be ignoring the history of the time; and not in any particular order but that's how Yatsen led the revolution...simple as that.