Back when I was a university student studying a course in the Far East we learned the term 'Heaven's Mandate'. It was said that when one dynasty overthrew another, the mandate from powers above to rule China had been lost and a new mandate was given to the winners. It was a self fulfilling idea because if the Mings went out and the Manchus went in it was because the Manchus now had the Mandate. The Last Emperor is the story of Young emperor Pu Yi who was the last Manchu Emperor, crowned at the age of 3 in 1908 and removed in 1911 during the revolution. Pu Yi spent half the rest of his life trying to gain that back and the other half trying to roll with the punches for making some very bad choices in trying for the former. By that time if you want to extend the idea, the mandate now fell to Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communists. Still very few people had as colorful, as tumultuous, and as epic a life as Pu Yi as portrayed by Chinese actor John Lone. Whatever else Pu Yi was, he was a survivor and maybe if he hasn't got Heaven's mandate any more, he's at least got a heavenly place. From 1911 until he was kicked out, the young Emperor was still permitted to run a kind of fairyland kingdom in the Forbidden City area of Peking which was the exclusive domain of the Chinese Emperors for centuries. During that time he had an English tutor in Peter O'Toole, the one major occidental player in The Last Emperor. The relationship here is similar to the one shown in Seven Years In Tibet between Brad Pitt as Heinrich Harrer and the young Dalai Lama. Here though the emphasis is on the pupil not the tutor. The Last Emperor is an epic international achievement, not possible during the years of Mao Tse-tung's rule. As a film it received great international respect winning nine Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Bernardo Bertolucci. That's quite a mandate in and of itself. Though the film is more than two and half hours long I guarantee your interest will not flag. And it really is worth it to see at the very end the elderly Emperor's meeting with the new Red Guards of Mao's Cultural Revolution and that bit of symbolism with the cricket. Absolutely priceless, just as the film is.
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Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" (1987) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment. The disc contains the Theatrical Version of the film (164 min) as well as the longer TV Version (218 min). The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary with Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, screen-writer Mark Peploe, and composer-actor Ryuichi Sakamato; an in-depth documentary about the making of the film; "Postcard from China", with optional commentary by Bernardo Bertolucci; and the film's original theatrical trailer. Without optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
At the age of 3, Pu Yi (John Lone, War) is taken away from his mother, sent to the Forbidden City and crowned Emperor of China. He is not allowed to interact with the outside world. As time goes by, Pu Yi becomes more and more frustrated with the cannons he is expected to respect. Outside of the Forbidden City the world is quickly changing. The Japanese Army invades China and Manchuria; then Mao's forces take over. In the beginning, Pu Yi is spared from the political turmoil, but he is eventually sucked into it. A British mentor (Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia) arrives to the Forbidden City and inspires the Emperor to begin searching for a new identity. Pu Yi also marries a beautiful girl (Joan Chen, Golden Gate). Pu Yi abdicates in 1912. Later on he returns to Manchuria, hoping to be an Emperor again, but is tricked by the Japanese invaders and consequently, after WW2 comes to an end, captured by the Red Army. The last Emperor is then transferred to a Chinese prison where the communists begin to question his history with the Japanese. The Last Emperor is Bernardo Bertolucci's most highly-decorated picture. Visually, it is a stunning tour de force, which few of its contemporaries, if any, could rival. It is also Bertolucci's - a passionate Marxist - most elegant yet uncompromising critique of absolute power. Despite of the fact that The Last Emperor chronicles an incredibly dramatic story, referencing to a number of key political events from the beginning of the century, its tone is notably intimate. In fact, Pu Yi's struggle to adapt to the world he has been kept away from, and consequently change it according to his vision, seems uncannily subdued. Not surprisingly, The Last Emperor is filled with a number of protracted close-ups where Pu Yi's face is examined - pain, joy, disappointment and elation are captured by Bertolucci without resorting to high-powered lines. Still, even though Bertolucci spends an enormous amount of time on Pu Yi and his maturation as a leader, his persona remains a perplexing enigma. There are controversial decisions the Emperor produces while juggling with the colonial interests of the Japanese, and later on Mao's communists, that are difficult to fully comprehend. Logically, Bertolucci's quiet but thorough examination of Pu Yi's history enhances even more the divisive elements in his legacy.The Last Emperor has been shown to audiences around the world in two different versions – a shorter version (165 min), also referred to as the Theatrical Cut, and a longer version (218 min), which was reconstructed for Italian TV. I've seen both and frankly have a difficult time deciding which is the more compelling one. The theatrical cut maintains a steady tempo, which given the story's episodic structure is probably the preferred way to see this film. I would also say that it links a lot of the political events I mentioned earlier without dramatically widening the gap between Pu Yi's political and personal lives. On the other hand, the TV version adds substantially more, particularly in regard to Pu Yi's childhood years. However, here Bertolucci also elaborates on a lot of the political intrigues from the second half of The Last Emperor. As a result, the intimate tone of the story I mentioned earlier is substantially weakened. Nevertheless, The Last Emperor remains a poignant account of a historic figure whose rise and fall at a time of great political turmoil are unquestionably fascinating to behold. Furthermore, the film effectively dispels a number of myths about absolute power that, somewhat ironically, are still alive and well in the Emperor's homeland. Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.02:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.There is nothing on the cover of this Blu-ray release indicating that it contains the same, supervised and approved by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, high-definition transfer, which Criterion used for their Blu-ray release awhile ago. As far as I am concerned, however, this high-definition transfer is practically identical to Criterion's.As I noted in our review for the Criterion Blu-ray release of The Last Emperor, despite the controversy surrounding Mr. Storaro's decision to have the film re-framed in 2.02:1, I think that the presentation is very strong. Fine object detail is pleasing, clarity very good and contrast levels convincing. The color-scheme, however, is what impresses the most. Yellows, blues, greens, reds, browns and blacks look fabulous. Furthermore, as it was the case with the Criterion release, here I was also able to spot some mild color softness during specific scenes. A good examples are the scene where the Emperor is seen playing tennis and the scene where he is greeted by the Japanese officials in Manchuria. Some mild edge-enhancement is also noticeable. Macroblocking, however, is never a serious issue of concern. Selected noise corrections have been applied, but the film's grain structure is intact. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. To sum it all up, if you reside in a Region-B territory and could not take advantage of Criterion's Region-A "locked" release of The Last Emperor, I strongly recommend that you consider adding this Blu-ray disc to your library. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
At the age of 3, Pu Yi (John Lone, War) is taken away from his mother, sent to the Forbidden City and crowned Emperor of China. He is not allowed to interact with the outside world. As time goes by, Pu Yi becomes more and more frustrated with the cannons he is expected to respect. Outside of the Forbidden City the world is quickly changing. The Japanese Army invades China and Manchuria; then Mao's forces take over. In the beginning, Pu Yi is spared from the political turmoil, but he is eventually sucked into it. A British mentor (Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia) arrives to the Forbidden City and inspires the Emperor to begin searching for a new identity. Pu Yi also marries a beautiful girl (Joan Chen, Golden Gate). Pu Yi abdicates in 1912. Later on he returns to Manchuria, hoping to be an Emperor again, but is tricked by the Japanese invaders and consequently, after WW2 comes to an end, captured by the Red Army. The last Emperor is then transferred to a Chinese prison where the communists begin to question his history with the Japanese. The Last Emperor is Bernardo Bertolucci's most highly-decorated picture. Visually, it is a stunning tour de force, which few of its contemporaries, if any, could rival. It is also Bertolucci's - a passionate Marxist - most elegant yet uncompromising critique of absolute power. Despite of the fact that The Last Emperor chronicles an incredibly dramatic story, referencing to a number of key political events from the beginning of the century, its tone is notably intimate. In fact, Pu Yi's struggle to adapt to the world he has been kept away from, and consequently change it according to his vision, seems uncannily subdued. Not surprisingly, The Last Emperor is filled with a number of protracted close-ups where Pu Yi's face is examined - pain, joy, disappointment and elation are captured by Bertolucci without resorting to high-powered lines. Still, even though Bertolucci spends an enormous amount of time on Pu Yi and his maturation as a leader, his persona remains a perplexing enigma. There are controversial decisions the Emperor produces while juggling with the colonial interests of the Japanese, and later on Mao's communists, that are difficult to fully comprehend. Logically, Bertolucci's quiet but thorough examination of Pu Yi's history enhances even more the divisive elements in his legacy.The Last Emperor has been shown to audiences around the world in two different versions – a shorter version (165 min), also referred to as the Theatrical Cut, and a longer version (218 min), which was reconstructed for Italian TV. I've seen both and frankly have a difficult time deciding which is the more compelling one. The theatrical cut maintains a steady tempo, which given the story's episodic structure is probably the preferred way to see this film. I would also say that it links a lot of the political events I mentioned earlier without dramatically widening the gap between Pu Yi's political and personal lives. On the other hand, the TV version adds substantially more, particularly in regard to Pu Yi's childhood years. However, here Bertolucci also elaborates on a lot of the political intrigues from the second half of The Last Emperor. As a result, the intimate tone of the story I mentioned earlier is substantially weakened. Nevertheless, The Last Emperor remains a poignant account of a historic figure whose rise and fall at a time of great political turmoil are unquestionably fascinating to behold. Furthermore, the film effectively dispels a number of myths about absolute power that, somewhat ironically, are still alive and well in the Emperor's homeland. Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.02:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Optimum Home Entertainment.There is nothing on the cover of this Blu-ray release indicating that it contains the same, supervised and approved by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, high-definition transfer, which Criterion used for their Blu-ray release awhile ago. As far as I am concerned, however, this high-definition transfer is practically identical to Criterion's.As I noted in our review for the Criterion Blu-ray release of The Last Emperor, despite the controversy surrounding Mr. Storaro's decision to have the film re-framed in 2.02:1, I think that the presentation is very strong. Fine object detail is pleasing, clarity very good and contrast levels convincing. The color-scheme, however, is what impresses the most. Yellows, blues, greens, reds, browns and blacks look fabulous. Furthermore, as it was the case with the Criterion release, here I was also able to spot some mild color softness during specific scenes. A good examples are the scene where the Emperor is seen playing tennis and the scene where he is greeted by the Japanese officials in Manchuria. Some mild edge-enhancement is also noticeable. Macroblocking, however, is never a serious issue of concern. Selected noise corrections have been applied, but the film's grain structure is intact. Finally, there are no serious stability issues to report in this review. To sum it all up, if you reside in a Region-B territory and could not take advantage of Criterion's Region-A "locked" release of The Last Emperor, I strongly recommend that you consider adding this Blu-ray disc to your library. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
some analysis and photo - blu-ray.com
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