Showing history accurately with all its complexities in a movie under a couple of hours will always be challenging. Mabel Cheung should be commended for trying.
Her attempt to tell the story of the birth of the Chinese Republic through the three Soong sisters succeeded as a engaging watchable movie. But unfortunately it fails to be a masterpiece that the material demands.
Here is a drama of a vast nation struggling to come to terms with itself and with the rest of the world (which was either benign or well meaning). Yet the story was told more like a soap opera of three rich but rather spoiled girls. The argument between the wife of Sun Yat- Sen, Ching Ling, and wife of Chiang Kai Shek, Mei King, at one point was presented as a sibling rivalry as who gets to be the First Lady of China.
For the technically inclined, the film editing can be better. While trying to juxtapose a Peking opera performance with the escape of Soong Ching Ling from hostility, instead of emphasizing the drama, the cut & jump seem to be disjointed. The action sequences also lack authenticity and pace.
Watch this movie as entertainment, you will be rewarded with beautiful art direction, good photography and overall superb acting (with a very convincing performance by Jiang Wen as Charlie Soong).
Her attempt to tell the story of the birth of the Chinese Republic through the three Soong sisters succeeded as a engaging watchable movie. But unfortunately it fails to be a masterpiece that the material demands.
Here is a drama of a vast nation struggling to come to terms with itself and with the rest of the world (which was either benign or well meaning). Yet the story was told more like a soap opera of three rich but rather spoiled girls. The argument between the wife of Sun Yat- Sen, Ching Ling, and wife of Chiang Kai Shek, Mei King, at one point was presented as a sibling rivalry as who gets to be the First Lady of China.
For the technically inclined, the film editing can be better. While trying to juxtapose a Peking opera performance with the escape of Soong Ching Ling from hostility, instead of emphasizing the drama, the cut & jump seem to be disjointed. The action sequences also lack authenticity and pace.
Watch this movie as entertainment, you will be rewarded with beautiful art direction, good photography and overall superb acting (with a very convincing performance by Jiang Wen as Charlie Soong).