Review of 1911 - Revolution (2011) by Eva Y — 07 Oct 2011

A good movie which manages to blend both the military and political manoeuvres that took place during the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and its immediate aftermath.

However, this movie would have been better if it was not so "rushed". Often, this movie tends to jump between scenes and time periods and this can be somewhat confusing. This movie also has the tendency to introduce the name and identity of each and every minor or supporting characters in the movie which, honestly speaking, was not that useful or necessary since these characters will not appear in more than a few scenes and will be quickly forgotten by the audience.

Indeed, this movie would have benefitted from going slower and providing more historical context to the happenings and characters in the movie. For example, for those unfamiliar with this period of Chinese history, the sudden introduction of Yuan Shikai as the general chosen to quell the revolutionary forces would most likely left them wondering who he is and why he is such a controversial figure.

In sum, this was a good movie but it could have been better.