Movies - The Blue Kite

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	Movies - The Blue Kite

(Original title: 藍風箏) 1993

Winner of the Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and Best Film at the Hawaii International Film Festival, both in 1993.

The story is told from the perspective of a young boy (Tietou) growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in Beijing. Three episodes - Rectification Movement, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution - show the family members evolving, e.g. from the real father, the "loving patriarch," to the protective but unemotional stepfather.

Characters

Father

The wedding is very nice, the whole neigborhood participates and the people are emotional and happy. The house and courtyard are shown in a warm bright light. The children play happily together. The father of Tietou helps him to get the blue kite aloft - a symbol of the young boy's hopes and dreams which are held back by the tree (the party). At the end of this chapter the father is mistreated by the party, then mistreats his son. He still hates him when he is sent to a work camp, where he is killed by a tree.

Uncle

A group picture illustrates the wedding, the men wearing blue work uniforms. The courtyard and house are shown in cold blue. Uncle Li cares about the boy's material needs and desires (Firecracker). Li wants to become a party member, and is working feverishly at his job, even though he has some health problems - malnutrition during the Great Leap Forward, eventually causing his death.

Stepfather

No wedding ceremony, no feelings shown at all. This marriage is just to save the mother and son from poverty, and to give them protection. They move in with the stepfahter (Lao Wu). The house is so big that everyone has his own room. No family life at all. But even this character, a party member, has the chance to save them and provide a safe life for the family. He is dragged away by Red Guards. At the end the boy is lying on the ground and looks up to see the broken kite hanging in the tree.

Plot

None of the fathers is against the party, but each fails to provide a happy life for his family. Many symbols are used to show that the party is usurping the father, the mother and the family itself. The more the party takes control, the less emotions are shown and the more depressed the characters are.

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