layman-2 Reviews

The Great Wall Is a Great Wall (1986)

watch for the historical view of BeiJing in 1986 and cultural notes

[4/10 · 16 July 2006]

The movie is a good concept with amateur / poor execution. But the scenes -- on the street, in the hotongs, courtyards, and streets of Beijing are just amazing. Beijing today is an amazing metropolis, and in this movie, in 1986, it has more the feeling of an overgrown village. you get somewhat unintentional glimpses of poverty and poorly maintained infrastructure -- Beijing in 2006 is far more cosmopolitan in places, with both much greater energy and wealth than you will see here and also more filth and poverty. The cultural notes are mostly still relevant, though the rampant capitalism, scheming and vitality of today's BJ make for a very different city. the Beijing of this movie is as lost as the "LA" of Chinatown (the movie) circa 1930's.....

so as history and culture lesson the movie is a 10. 'the world of Susie Wong' works as both history and movie; this one is just good history!