Review of Seventeen Years (1999) by Mattias E — 28 Sep 2010

After years of banishment and working outside the system, director Zhang Yuan returns to the fold with the government approved drama Seventeen Years. Although decidedly less socio-politically relevant than Zhang's previous work, the official seal hardly weakens the movie's strong emotional content, centered around the reconstitution and reevaluation of traditional family values in the age of Chinese neo-capitalism.

Enlisting the talents of top writers Yu Hua and Zhu Wen also guarantees a deeply felt drama with real characters. Zhang's sudden leniency towards the censorship board must be weighed against the opportunity to shoot parts of the movie within the walls of a Chinese prison, thus allowing the director to include a subtle and indirect critique of societal and personal repression in modern China.